L."  vision 


DJI03 
,G  55 


Section 


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Number  11 

BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND,  AND  WHAT 

SHE  TAUGHT  US 


By  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 


' 


V 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND,  AND 
WHAT  SHE  TAUGHT 


BY 


FEB  18  1915 

&EI DAL 


WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 


AUTHOR  OF  “  THE  MIKADO’S  EMPIRE,”  “  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE 
NETHERLANDS,”  “  SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON,”  ETC. 


“In  love  of  liberty  and  bravery  in  the  defense  of  it,  she  has  been  our  great 
example.”  —  Benjamin  Franklin 


REVISED  EDITION. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
(£be  fitoet^ibe  pre?£  Cambridge 


Copyright,  1894, 

By  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 


All  rights  reserved . 


DEDICATED  TO 


THAT  IiAHGE  NUMBER  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE  WHO,  WHETHER 
THEY  KNOW  IT  OR  NOT,  HAVE  IN  THEIR  VEINS 


,,  9?eberlanbM)  Stoeb." 


PREFACE. 


My  interest  in  Holland  extends  back  to  boy¬ 
hood’s  days  in  Philadelphia,  the  city  founded  by 
the  son  of  a  Dutch  mother,  and  partly  settled  by 
the  learned  and  industrious  Netherlander  who 
accompanied  William  Penn  to  America.  Educa¬ 
tion  at  Rutgers  College  —  begun  and  nourished 
by  men  of  Dutch  name  and  descent,  who  kept 
alive  the  memories  of  their  ancestors  —  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  a  visit  to  Holland  in  1869.  Then  came 
four  years  of  life  among  the  Japanese,  whose 
only  teachers  of  science  and  European  civiliza¬ 
tion  for  over  two  hundred  years  had  been  Dutch' 
men.  Nine  years’  service  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
enabled  me  to  become  acquainted  with  the  con¬ 
tents  both  of  the  deacon’s  chest  at  home  and  the 
rich  collection  of  documents  illustrating  Dutch- 
American  history  in  the  State  Library  and  City 
Hall  in  Albany.  During  a  residence  of  seven 
years  in  Boston,  I  made  two  literary  journeys 
through  Nederland  and  its  libraries.  I  learned, 


PREFACE. 


•  •  • 

Vlll 

also,  both  the  special  richness  and  the  astonish¬ 
ing  poverty  as  to  Dutch  books  and  manuscripts 
of  the  libraries  of  those  twin  cities,  divided  by 
the  Charles  River,  in  which  most  of  the  histories 
of  the  United  States  have  been  written.  At 
some  future  day,  I  hope,  despite  an  otherwise 
busy  life,  to  give  the  full  results  of  my  studies, 
with  references  and  authorities. 

Meanwhile  I  have  written  this  story  in  simple 
language  for  the  young  folks  of  America,  and 
trust  that  it  may  incite  a  deeper  interest  in  the 
little  country  wherein  John  Adams  wrote,  “  The 
originals  of  the  two  Republicks  are  so  much 
alike,  that  the  History  of  One  seems  but  a  Trans¬ 
cript  from  that  of  the  other.” 

The  chief  authorities  which  have  most  aided 
me  are  Prof.  P.  J.  Blok’s  works,  especially  his 
“ Geschiedenis  van  het  Nederlandsche  Yolk;” 
the  writings  of  Bor,  Wagenaar,  van  Prinsterer, 
Fruin,  Delprat,  Scheffer,  Brandt,  Bizot,  Kist, 
Sillem,  Winkler,  Huet,  and  various  Dutch  mono¬ 
graphs  and  works  of  reference ;  and,  in  American 
history,  the  papers  of  Bradford,  Van  der  Capel- 
len,  Adams,  and  of  the  Pilgrim,  Revolutionary, 
and  Constitutional  fathers.  If  here  and  there  I 
have  disagreed  with  Motley,  it  is  because  I  have 


PREFACE. 


IX 


thought  that  illustrious  writer  more  dramatic 
and  subjective  than  scientific  in  some  of  his 
statements.  Brave  little  Holland  taught  our 
fathers  many  things  which  the  true  historian  of 
the  American  republic  can  no  longer  afford  to 
ignore. 

W.  E.  G. 


Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  January  29, 1894. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

*  I.  A  Berd’s-Eye  View . 1 

II.  Entering  the  Country  ....  12 

III.  How  a  Dam  became  a  City  .  .  .  .19 

IV.  The  First  Inhabitants  of  Nederland  .  26 

V.  The  Roman  Occupation . 32 

VI.  The  Saxo-Frisian  Movement  ...  38 

VII.  What  has  come  to  us  from  the  Frisians  .  45 

VIII.  Karel  de  Groote . 52 

IX.  The  Incursions  of  the  Northmen  .  .  57 

X.  The  Feudal  System . 64 

XI.  Holland  and  the  Counts  .  ,  .  .72 

XH.  The  Dutch  Crusaders . 79 

XIII.  What  followed  the  Crusades  .  .  .87 

XIV.  The  Codfishes  and  the  Fish-Hooks  .  99 

XV.  How  a  Mud-Hole  became  a  Garden  .  .110 

XVI.  Intellectual  Movements  in  Nederland.  122 

XVII.  Erasmus  and  the  Heretics  ....  131 
XVin.  The  Troubles  in  the  Low  Countries  .  139 

XIX.  The  First  Battle  —  Heiliger  Lee  .  .  151 

XX.  Brave  Little  Holland  defies  Spain  .  160 

XXI.  The  Dutch  United  States  ....  169 

XXII.  Spain  recognizes  the  Republic  .  .  175 

XXIII.  State  Rights,  Secession,  and  Union  .  .  179 

XXIV.  The  Union  Must  and  Shall  be  Preserved  185 

XXV.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers  in  Leyden  .  .  192 

XXVI.  The  Pilgrims  emigrate  to  America  .  201 

XXVII.  The  Dutch  in  America . 210 

XXVIII.  A  Century  of  Prosperity  ....  220 

XXIX.  Nederland  and  the  American  Revolution  226 

XXX.  The  Dutch  and  American  Constitutions  .  235 

XXXI.  “  The  Dutch  have  taken  Holland  ”  .  240 

XXXII.  The  Reign  of  Queen  Wilhelmina  .  .  247 


BRAYE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 
a  bird’s-eye  view. 

English-speaking  people  usually  refer  to  the 
European  Kingdom  of  Nederland  by  mention¬ 
ing  the  name  of  a  single  one  of  its  eleven 
provinces,  Holland.  The  Dutch  call  their  coun¬ 
try  Nederland.  The  Kingdom  of  the  Nether¬ 
lands,  or  Nederlanden,  means  Nederland  and  its 
colonies.  The  44  Low  Countries  ”  is  the  old  term 
for  the  Netherlands,  the  seventeen  provinces, 
which  included  what  is  now  Belgium  and  Ne¬ 
derland,  that  is  both  the  southern  and  the  north¬ 
ern  provinces.  Since  1579,  the  two  countries, 
except  for  a  period  between  1815  and  1830,  have 
been  separate.  When  the  Dutch  settled  the 
country  which  now  includes  our  four  Middle 
States,  they  named  it  New  Netherland,  not  New 
Netherlands.  The  Dutch  flag  is  red,  white,  and 
blue  ;  that  of  Belgium  has  the  tri-color  of  old 
Brabant,  red,  yellow,  and  black.  In  this  book, 
when  we  say  Netherlands,  we  mean  the  Low 


2 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Countries,  or  the  seventeen  provinces ;  by  Neder¬ 
land  we  mean  the  land  included  in  the  Dutch 
Republic,  or  the  modern  kingdom  north  of  the 
Scheldt  River. 

All  who  speak  the  English  language  should 
visit  Nederland,  or  be  interested  in  its  story. 
It  was  the  older  home  of  tribes  and  people  now 
called  English.  The  largest  emigration  from  the 
continent  into  Great  Britain  was  from  its  shores. 
The  language  very  much  like  the  English  is  the 
Dutch,  and  most  like  it  is  the  Frisian  or  North 
Dutch.  Many  of  the  arts,  sciences,  inventions, 
and  improvements  which  have  made  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  so  rich  and  powerful  came  from  Holland. 
One  of  the  very  best  of  her  kings,  William  III., 
Prince  of  Orange,  was  a  Dutchman.  In  a  thou¬ 
sand  ways  England  owes  much  to  the  Dutch, 
who  are  rather  more  like  the  English  than  they 
are  like  the  Germans. 

The  American,  even  more  than  the  Briton, 
should  know  about  Netherland.  It  was  the  Fa¬ 
therland  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware.  In  the 
United  States  of  Netherland  we  had  the  first  ex¬ 
ample  of  a  federal  republic  with  a  written  con¬ 
stitution.  Seven  states  formed  a  union  under  the 
orange,  white,  and  blue  flag.  This  Dutch  repub¬ 
lic  had  a  senate  of  sovereign  states  or  States- 
General,  in  which  each  state,  large  or  small,  had 
one  vote.  The  capital  lay  in  a  small  district  and 


A  BIRD’S-EYE  VIEW . 


3 


was  without  a  vote,  like  our  District  of  Columbia. 
In  this  little  republic  of  seven  states  there  were 
differences  almost  as  great  as  between  Massachu¬ 
setts  and  Louisiana,  Ohio  and  New  Mexico.  One 
was  ultra  democratic  like  Friesland,  another  was 
aristocratic  like  Holland.  Some  were  maritime, 
others  inland.  Some  were  violently  Protestant, 
others  intensely  Roman  Catholic.  There  were 
variations  in  local  customs,  religion,  and  social 
organization,  yet  all  were  loyal  to  the  Union 
made  about  two  hundred  years  before  ours,  that 
is,  in  1579.  In  their  public  schools,  sustained 
by  taxation,  the  Dutch  were  trained  to  be  intelli¬ 
gent  as  well  as  brave,  so  as  to  use  their  liberty 
aright. 

The  Dutch  cast  off  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards 
just  as  our  fathers  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
British,  because  their  rights  were  invaded  and 
they  were  taxed  without  their  consent.  Like  our 
fathers,  also,  they  first  formed  a  Union  of  states, 
and  then  made  themselves  free  by  a  declaration 
of  independence.  Like  us,  they  had  a  long  war 
for  freedom ;  like  us,  they  had  trouble  about 
threatened  secession.  They  talked  much  about 
State  Rights  and  the  Union,  but  the  Union  was 
maintained.  For  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years 
the  Dutch  United  States  remained  a  republic, 
though  surrounded  by  proud  and  strong  mon¬ 
arch  s  that  hated  republics. 

In  our  Revolutionary  War  the  Dutch  sympa* 


4 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


thized  with  us,  gave  us  aid,  and  lent  us  money. 
The  first  salute  ever  fired  by  foreigners  in  honor 
of  the  American  flag  was  from  the  Dutch.  Gov¬ 
ernor  Johannes  de  Graeff,  at  the  port  of  St. 
Eustachius  in  the  West  Indies,  November  16, 
1776,  ordered  the  “  honor- shots.”  After  the 
States  -  General  had  formally  recognized  the 
United  States  of  America  as  a  nation,  the  loan 
by  the  Dutch  merchants  of  fourteen  millions  of 
dollars  came  when  our  country  needed  it  most. 

When  in  1787  our  fathers  made  the  Constitu¬ 
tion,  the  Dutch  republic  was  a  living  example 
before  their  eyes.  They  borrowed  many  things 
directly  from  the  Dutch  system,  though  they  also 
rejected  many  and  improved  most  of  its  features. 
Dutch  history  had  shown  them  what  to  select  and 
what  to  avoid.  “  In  love  of  liberty  and  bravery 
in  the  defense  of  it,  she  has  been  our  great  ex¬ 
ample,”  is  what  Benjamin  Franklin  said  of  brave 
little  Holland. 

For  a  thousand  years  the  Dutch  fought  the  sea 
waves  and  the  river  floods.  They  dyked  their 
land,  which  is  lower  than  the  ocean.  While  thus 
engaged,  they  were  rearing  also  the  bulwarks  of 
freedom.  They  beat  off  the  Spaniard ;  they 
helped  to  make  England  and  America  free. 

Grand  as  is  her  story,  the  size  of  Nederland 
is  almost  ridiculously  small.  The  whole  king¬ 
dom  of  eleven  provinces  is  less  than  half  the  size 
of  South  Carolina,  or  one  third  the  area  of  Ohio, 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW. 


5 


and  hardly  bigger  than  Maryland.  Twenty  such 
countries  could  be  dropped  into  the  one  State  of 
Texas.  On  her  12,650  square  miles  of  land  and 
water  live  over  four  millions  of  people,  or  fewer 
than  in  the  Empire  State. 

After  the  English,  the  Dutch  have  been  the 
most  successful  colonizers.  In  the  East  Indies 
they  possess  J ava,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  Celebes,  and 
St.  Eustachius  in  the  West  Indies,  besides  part 
of  Guiana.  Many  thousands  of  Hollanders  live 
abroad  in  these  and  other  colonies,  which  together 
form  a  domain  of  766,000  square  miles,  or  five 
times  the  area  of  California.  By  a  few  thousand 
Dutchmen,  the  thirty  millions  of  Malays  and 
other  natives  are  easily  governed.  Except  the 
long  and  costly  war  with  the  Atchinese,  peace  is 
the  rule  in  the  Dutch  colonial  dominions.  There 
is  a  vast  difference  between  Cuba  and  Java.  In 
the  one  are  despotism  and  constant  insurrection, 
in  the  other  are  peace,  law,  good  government. 

South  Africa  has  been  largely  settled  by  Ne- 
derlanders,  many  of  whom  still  live  under  British 
rule  in  Cape  Colony.  Others  have,  since  1854, 
formed  the  Orange  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal 
Republic.  The  Dutch  Boers  handle  the  rifle  and 
ride  on  horses  from  childhood.  Thus  far  their 
dauntless  spirit,  sure  aim,  and  intense  patriotism 
have  enabled  them  to  resist  British  aggression. 

Nederland  lies  between  Belgium  and  Germany, 
facing  the  North  Sea,  opposite  England  and  near 


6 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


France.  The  great  rivers  of  western  Europe 
have  their  mouths  in  and  near  Holland,  so  that 
the  country  has  always  been  one  of  traders.  It 
is  in  the  track  of  commerce,  yet  is  most  strangely 
situated.  Most  of  the  country  is  not  visible  from 
the  sea,  because  it  is  actually  below  the  water- 
level.  By  nature  the  land  has  been  made  up  by 
the  mud  and  silt  brought  down  from  the  high¬ 
lands  of  Germany.  For  ages  the  rivers  have  de¬ 
posited  clay  and  the  ocean  sand,  and  these  two 
have  made  Holland. 

The  war  of  wind  and  wave  has  gone  on  from 
geological  aeons.  At  first,  the  ocean  was  con¬ 
queror.  The  result  of  the  victory  was  a  great 
wall  of  earth  heaved  up  along  the  coast  from 
near  the  Texel  on  the  north  to  Zeeland  or  sea- 
land  on  the  south.  These  hills,  called  dunes, 
are  sand  heaps  from  thirty  to  nearly  two  hundred 
feet  high.  As  natural  dykes  they  keep  out  the 
sea.  They  are  full  of  rabbit  burrows,  and  hunt¬ 
ing  “  Molly  cotton-tail  ”  furnishes  fine  sport  for 
the  boys.  The  Dutch  word  for  rabbit  is  \<onyn, 
showing  that  the  old  English  “  cony,”  like  so 
many  thousand  other  names  and  things  was,  in 
its  root,  Dutch  before  it  was  English. 

Near  the  sea  these  billowy  sand  heaps  cannot 
be  cultivated.  The  winds  would  blow  away  the 
farms  and  gardens,  and  send  them  whirling  into 
the  air.  Farther  inland  there  are  groves  of  pine- 
trees,  pastures,  fields,  potato  plots,  patches  of 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW. 


7 


buckwheat,  and  houses  on  the  dunes.  The  reed- 
grass  is  sown  every  year  on  the  sands  to  bind 
them  together  and  hold  them  down.  Towards 
the  south,  between  Rotterdam  and  Flushing,  this 
wall  of  sand  has  been  broken  and  kept  open  by 
the  inland  waters  of  the  Rhine,  Maas,  Waal,  and 
Scheldt  rivers.  These  come  down  from  the  Ger¬ 
man  and  French  mountains,  and  have  great  push¬ 
ing  power.  They  keep  their  own  channels  scoured 
out. 

Though  Holland  is  made  up  chiefly  of  the  delta 
of  the  Rhine,  yet  this  noble  stream  keeps  its  name 
only  from  the  German  frontier  to  Wijk  by  Duur- 
stede.  The  waters  called  “  the  Rhine  ”  at  Utrecht, 
Leyden,  and  Bloemendaal  are  only  canals.  A 
41  river  ”  flows  with  living  or  streaming  water. 
A  44  canal  ”  holds  dead  water  shut  up  by  sluices. 
Born  in  Alpine  glaciers,  the  Rhine  leaps  over  the 
Schaflhausen  falls,  flows  in  majesty  through  Ger¬ 
many,  and  loses  its  name  in  Holland  ;  its  flood  then 
reaches  the  sea  through  various  branches.  The 
other  so-called  Rhine  waters  are  not  from  interior 
Europe,  but  form  part  of  the  water-scape  of  Rijn- 
land,  in  the  northern  half  of  South  Holland. 

This  lowland  sluggishness  of  the  rivers,  chang¬ 
ing  living  water  into  muddy  and  dead  stuff,  re¬ 
quires  the  constant  use  of  the  spade,  the  pump, 
and  the  dredge.  New  and  artificial  rivers  must 
from  time  to  time  be  dug  to  replace  the  old  water¬ 
courses.  This  work  has  gone  on  for  centuries^ 


8 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


for  commerce  is  the  life  of  Holland,  and  the  little 
submarine  country  cannot  afford  to  let  the  water 
stand  still.  There  is  no  rest  for  a  lazy  river  in 
Holland.  It  must  keep  moving  and  he  made  to 
work. 

The  Dutchman  has  a  jealous  eye.  He  is  al¬ 
ways  after  the  bottom  of  the  water,  to  dig  up  the 
valuable  turf  to  dry  and  burn,  the  clay  to  knead 
and  bake  into  bricks,  and  the  fertile  soil  to  turn 
into  pastures  or  grain-fields.  He  routs  out  the 
eels  and  fish  of  shell  or  fin  to  put  the  mild-eyed 
cows  in  their  places.  The  Dutch  have  already 
drained  ninety  lakes.  They  have  dyked  all  the 
rivers  and  the  sea.  And  they  intend  to  conquer 
one  new  province  by  pumping  out  the  Zuyder 
Zee. 

In  the  old  times  before  written  history,  when 
darkness,  as  deep  as  that  of  mid-Africa  before 
Stanley,  brooded  over  this  region,  there  was  no 
Dollart,  or  Zuyder  Zee,  or  island  of  Zeeland. 
What  kind  of  people  lived  here  ?  How  did  the 
country  look  ? 

We  can  answer  the  second  question  better  than 
we  can  the  first.  Far  back  from  the  sea  were  a 
few  hills,  and  midland  were  forests,  hillocks,  and 
sand  heaths.  W ater  lay  over  the  surface.  Lakes, 
pools,  fens,  swamps,  and  marshes  covered  most 
of  the  soil.  Reeds,  rushes,  and  all  kinds  of 
aquatic  plants  grew  in  the  ooze.  Living,  they 
furnished  a  home  for  millions  of  wild  fowl  and 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW. 


9 


many  forms  of  marine  life.  Dying,  they  formed 
during  the  ages  the  peat  and  turf  that  has  for 
centuries  warmed  the  Dutch  hearths  and  homes. 

When  the  ocean  tides  were  high,  or  the  winds 
blew  long  from  the  west,  or  the  heavy  snows  on 
the  mountains  melted,  or  the  rainfall  was  un¬ 
usually  great,  most  of  the  country  lay  under  the 
waves.  Even  when  the  soggy,  spongy  earth  was 
partially  dried  by  the  wind  or  the  ebb  of  the 
waters,  floods  were  common  and  sudden.  Then 
the  people  were  driven  for  shelter  to  the  mounds 
or  the  hills. 

Thus  they  struggled  like  mermaids  of  fable  in 
amphibious  existence.  No  wonder  they  called 
their  country  Neder-land  or  the  land  beneath, 
while  names  meaning  sea-land,  water-land,  hol¬ 
low-land,  or  sluice,  canal,  ford,  lagoon,  or  of 
water  in  some  one  of  its  myriad  forms,  fill  the 
map.  Coats  of  arms,  town  seals,  and  heraldry 
tell  of  constant  fight  and  victory  over  water. 
Rotterdam  is  proud  of  her  town-arms  of  silver 
and  green,  which  represent  a  fertilizing  river  be¬ 
tween  two  fruitful  fields.  The  crest  of  Zeeland 
is  a  lion  riding  out  of  the  waves,  with  the  motto, 
“  luctor  et  emergo  ”  — “  I  struggle,  but  I  emerge.” 
The  Dutch  proverb  meaning  forever  is  “  As  long 
as  grass  grows  and  water  runs.” 

By  nature,  then,  this  country  was  once  a  mud- 
hole.  Now,  by  the  genius,  energy,  patience,  and 
faith  of  a  noble  people,  the  mud  hole  has  been 


10 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


changed  into  a  garden.  The  Dutch  have  won 
their  soil  with  the  toil  of  fifteen  hundred  years. 
“  God  made  the  sea,  we  made  the  land,”  they  say. 
Living  below  the  ocean’s  level,  they  are  called 
Low  Dutch,  while  the  Germans  who  inhabit 
chiefly  plateaus  and  highlands  are  the  High 
Dutch. 

Resolute,  serious,  vigilant,  the  Nederlanders 
love  intensely  their  cold,  wet,  and  chilly  land. 
They  have  made  the  home  beautiful,  and  were 
the  first  people  to  glorify  it  in  art.  They  love 
science,  literature,  the  fine  arts,  and  religion. 
They  are  quick-witted  students,  sailors,  fishers, 
traders,  engineers,  explorers,  colonists,  freemen. 
They  love  law,  order,  and  liberty. 

Even  their  monarchy  is  little  more  than  a 
name.  Except  the  one  ruler  forced  on  them  dur¬ 
ing  the  detested  French  occupation,  by  Napoleon, 
their  kings  have  been  of  the  one  house  of  Orange. 

Every  man  in  the  land  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  is  saluted  as  Mynheer,  My  Lord,  or  Sir. 
In  Germany,  von  denotes  nobility,  title,  privilege, 
monopoly.  In  Nederland,  van ,  the  same  word, 
belongs  to  the  people.  All  can  use  van,  from 
the  boer  in  hlompen  to  the  king,  with  whom  at 
times  the  people  shake  hands. 

Into  this  shelter-land  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
training  ground  of  all  our  colonial  soldier-emi¬ 
grants  from  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  John  Smith 
to  Miles  Standish  and  J acob  Leisler,  nurse  of  the 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW. 


11 


Puritans,  home  of  republican  government,  written 
constitutions,  free  press,  free  schools,  democratic 
rule  in  church  and  popular  power  in  state,  let  us 
at  once  enter. 

Nederland  has  a  Celtic,  Germanic,  Roman 
Pagan,  Christian,  feudal,  crusading,  and  revolu¬ 
tionary  history  of  its  own.  It  touches  also  Saxon, 
Norse,  English,  Spanish,  German,  and  American 
history  at  so  many  points,  that  we  shall  enjoy  a 
visit.  Here,  too,  we  shall  find  the  original  of 
many  things  American. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ENTERING  THE  COUNTRY. 

It  is  the  misty  morning  of  July  13,  1892. 
We  are  on  the  deck  of  the  N.  A.  S.  M.  steamer 
Maasdam.  The  Nederlandsch  Amerikaansche 
Stoomvaart  Maatschappy  floats  a  green  flag. 
The  name  means  Dutch-American  Steam  Naviga¬ 
tion  Company.  Captain  Potjer,  commodore  of 
the  fleet,  commands  our  ship,  which  left  New  York 
July  2d  at  10  A.  m.,  on  the  dot. 

Out  of  the  gray  North  Sea  we  enter  the  muddy 
Maas  by  the  new  Water-way,  or  in  Dutch  de 
Nieuwe  Water-weg.  It  is  chilly,  and  an  overcoat 
adds  to  our  enjoyment  of  the  novelties  as  we 
move  up  “  The  Scour.” 

Years  ago  the  Maas  was  choking  itself  to  death 
with  its  own  silt.  The  channel  became  too  shal¬ 
low  for  heavy  ships.  The  commerce  of  Rotterdam 
was  threatened.  The  great  city  might  have  be¬ 
come  a  dried-up  port.  There  was  only  one  thing 
to  be  done.  It  was  done.  Money  was  raised  to 
pay  an  army  of  diggers.  They  scooped  out  a  new 
river  fifteen  miles  long  from  Maassluis  to  the  sea. 

Now  the  Maas  scours  out  its  own  bed,  but  there 
are  the  dredges  which  must  help  also.  Their  long 


ENTERING  THE  COUNTRY. 


13 


arms  and  scoops  worked  by  steam  keep  routing 
out  the  sand  bars  that  continually  form.  The 
engineer  of  this  splendidly  successful  work  was 
Mr.  P.  Caland,  who  received  prompt  promotion. 
At  the  Hague  he  is  now  Chief  Inspector  of  the 
Water  State. 

We  on  the  steamer’s  deck  seem  far  up  in  the 
air,  on  an  elevated  railway,  as  it  were.  The  land 
is  far  below.  Green  as  an  emerald,  except  for 
drifts  of  mist  here  and  there,  it  is  bossed  with 
haycocks  and  bright  with  cattle.  The  cows  are 
black  and  white  with  soft  eyes  and  rich  udders. 
Low  and  red-roofed  are  the  cottages.  Turf-smoke 
rises  from  the  chimneys.  The  hearth-odors  are 
sweet  and  human-like.  They  furnish  a  good  anti¬ 
dote  to  ship-smells. 

Here  and  there  are  villages.  Church  spires 
dominate  the  landscape.  The  low  flatness  of  the 
sunken  earth  makes  them  seem  higher  than  they 
really  are.  The  land  appears  like  an  intaglio  and 
as  clean-cut  as  a  gem.  Our  fancy  runs  back  to 
the  historic  days  of  Roman  triremes,  Viking 
galleys,  crusaders’  ships,  Venetian  fleets,  and  Span¬ 
ish  war  -  vessels.  What  a  wonderful  variety  of 
keeled  and  unkeeled  bottoms  floated  on  the  Maas. 
Here  is  the  gateway  into  the  heart  of  Germany 
and  Europe. 

“  Please,  sir,  show  me  a  dyke,  and  tell  me  about 
the  famous  places,”  asks  a  young  lady  passenger 
from  Boston. 


14 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


“  A  dyke  !  Why,  we  are  now  between  two  big 
ones.  We  are  sailing  along  the  top  of  a  pair 
which  brace  np  the  Maas.  For  at  least  fifty 
miles  the  river  and  its  branches  are  held  up  arti¬ 
ficially.” 

“  Yes,  but  I  mean  the  dykes  by  which  the  towns 
and  villages  are  defended.” 

We  look  over  the  larboard,  beyond  the  rows  of 
trees,  lines  of  houses,  and  windmills.  Amid  the 
scenery  that  seems  to  move  with  the  moving 
steamer  is  one  steady,  fixed  line  of  green.  This  is 
the  great  sea-dyke  begun  a  millennium  ago.  It  is 
the  backbone  on  which  Gouda,  Rotterdam,  Delfs- 
haven,  Schiedam,  Ylaardingen,  Maassluis,  and  in¬ 
tervening  villages  are  only  the  ribs.  It  is  the 
High  Street  of  the  great  city  and  of  the  towns 
along  the  Maas.  This  dyke  begins  thirty  miles  up 
in  the  country  near  the  Yssel  River.  It  is  contin¬ 
ued  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Maas  clear  across 
the  Hook  of  Holland  to  the  sea-waves.  It  forms 
a  magnificent  bulwark  forty  miles  long. 

Like  the  Chinese  wall,  it  was  first  built  in 
sections.  In  A.  D.  1281  its  parts  were  made  a 
unit  by  Count  Floris  Y.  It  is  forty  feet  broad  at 
the  base,  thirty-five  feet  wide  at  the  top,  and  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty-five  feet  high.  For  seven 
centuries  it  has  defied  the  world  of  waters.  Once, 
in  1574,  the  Dutch  made  an  ally  of  the  ocean. 
Then  this  dyke  was  cut  through  to  flood  the  coun¬ 
try  all  the  way  up  to  Leyden,  twenty  miles,  to 


ENTERING  THE  COUNTRY.  15 

drown  out  the  Spaniards  and  float  the  rescue- 
boats  laden  with  loaves  and  herring.  When  the 
city  was  relieved,  the  wind,  helping  the  Dutch, 
drove  back  the  water  and  the  dyke  was  mended. 
To  cut  the  dykes  was  like  the  pelican  feeding  her 
young  with  blood  from  her  own  breast. 

Other  objects  now  attract  us.  Over  the  star¬ 
board  looms  up  a  lofty  tower.  It  is  square,  built  of 
brick,  and  rises  over  the  church  at  Briele.  Here 
was  “  the  Dutchman’s  Lexington  ”  in  his  war  for 
independence.  The  Water-beggars  seized  it  in 
1572,  and  hoisted  on  that  tower  the  flag  of  or¬ 
ange,  white,  and  blue.  The  name  of  the  town  is 
the  same  as  that  for  spectacles,  and  many  were 
the  puns  and  jokes  about  Brill,  Alva’s  nose,  and 
the  beggars  who  stole  the  duke’s  eye-glasses. 
From  that  time  the  cause  of  Dutch  freedom  was 
hopeful  until  made  sure.  What  fine  lookout 
stations  those  church  towers  must  have  made 
before  rifled  cannon  were  invented.  From  their 
top  one  can  study  best  the  map  of  Holland. 

Farther  up  is  Ylaardingen,  famous  for  its  her¬ 
ring.  The  drawing  in  of  its  mile-long  nets  by 
steam  machinery  twice  a  day  is  a  fine  sight.  For 
a  thousand  years  the  Ylaardingen  herring  and  the 
town-brand  on  kegs  have  been  seen  all  over  the 
world.  The  Dutchman  who  in  the  year  1414  dis¬ 
covered  the  art  of  curing  and  packing  fish  opened 
gold  mines  in  the  ocean. 

There,  over  the  larboard,  is  Schiedam.  See  its 


16 


'BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


tall  chimneys  which  tell  of  stills  beneath  in  which 
schnapps  or  gin  is  made.  Two  hundred  distil¬ 
leries  are  here.  Animals,  fed  on  the  refuse  of 
the  grain  imported  from  America,  are  counted  by 
scores  of  thousands.  Apart  from  its  specialty, 
the  town  is  very  attractive  with  its  gardens  and 
elegant  houses.  Schiedam,  the  town  on  the  Schie 
River,  is  very  old.  Once  it  was  noted  for  its 
printing  offices  and  boohs. 

We  are  on  the  track  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
and  Mothers  who  settled  Massachusetts.  Their 
ship,  the  Speedwell,  sailed  down  this  same  river 
Maas  from  Delfshaven  over  to  England,  joining 
the  Mayflower  at  Southampton.  Over  there  be¬ 
yond  the  town  a  silver  thread  trails  from  the 
north  through  green  meadows.  That  was  once 
the  river  Schie.  For  centuries  past  it  has  been  a 
canal  from  Leyden  passing  through  Delft.  Along 
that  stream,  in  July,  1620,  the  founders  of  New 
England  came  in  towed  boats  to  the  haven  of 
Delft.  The  good  ship  Speedwell  lay  moored  at 
the  end  of  the  canal  yonder.  Just  where  a  huge 
windmill,  built  a  century  or  more  ago,  swings  its 
long  arms,  the  embarkation  of  the  Pilgrims  took 
place.  The  painting  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol 
at  W ashington  has  made  the  historic  scene  fa¬ 
miliar,  but  the  artist  evolved  the  rocks  and  hills 
in  the  background  out  of  his  imagination,  for  all 
is  flat  here. 

Farther  back  in  the  town  is  the  little  church, 


ENTERING  THE  COUNTRY. 


11 


built  in  1416,  whose  clock-tower  we  can  easily  see. 
In  it,  as  tradition  avers,  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Pilgrim  company,  before  sailing  away,  was  held. 
A  stone  cut  from  the  floor  of  this  church  is,  along 
with  one  from  Scrooby  in  England  and  a  frag¬ 
ment  from  Plymouth  Pock,  built  into  the  front 
of  the  New  England  Church  in  Chicago.  The 
great  fire  of  1871,  which  left  the  interior  in 
ashes,  spared  the  front  of  these  memorial  stones. 
To  a  Dutch  traveler,  who  wrote  a  book  on  “  Six 
Months  in  the  United  States,”  these  spared  monu¬ 
ments  seemed  emblems  of  the  everlasting  gospel. 
A  stone  sent  from  Chicago  inscribed  with  Chris¬ 
tian  emblems  is  built  into  the  inner  wall  of  the 
Delfshaven  church.  In  one  of  the  warehouses  of 
the  West  India  Company,  it  is  said,  the  Pilgrims 
found  accommodations  for  the  night  which  they 
spent  in  the  town  before  going  on  board. 

Since  they  sailed  away  for  America,  amid  tears 
and  cheers  and  the  firing  of  guns,  a  great  bar 
has  formed  in  the  Maas.  This  in  due  time,  col¬ 
lecting  reeds  and  more  mud,  has  made  a  long 
island  called  Ruige  Plaat,  or  rough  shoal.  Now, 
smoothed  off,  it  is  laid  out  in  roads  with  rows  of 
trees,  and  has  many  houses  on  it.  There,  at  one 
end,  are  the  hospitals  erected  in  case  of  a  visit  of 
cholera  from  Hamburg.  The  island  is  cut  in  two 
by  a  sluice  directly  opposite  the  spot  so  often 
commemorated  in  picture  and  poem.  The  shady 
road  fronting  the  river,  past  which  we  have  been 


18 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


gliding,  is  called  Pelgrim’s  Kade,  that  is,  Pil¬ 
grim’s  Quay.  It  received  its  name  only  two  days 
ago  from  the  burgomaster  and  “  law-holders  ”  of 
Rotterdam.  This  fact  we  learn  from  the  Rotten 
dam  newspapers  received  on  board  at  Maassluis. 
Will  Americans  ever  mark  the  spot  by  a  memo¬ 
rial  ? 

Delfshaven  is  an  old  town,  the  arms  of  which 
are  a  herring  and  a  wisp  of  three  heads  of  wheat 
set  on  either  side  of  a  line  of  alternate  white  and 
blue  bands.  Now  it  is,  municipally,  a  part  of 
Rotterdam.  To  this  city,  the  second  in  size  in 
the  kingdom  and  rapidly  growing,  have  we  now 
come.  Let  us  step  ashore  and  study  the  history 
of  brave  little  Holland. 


CHAPTER  III. 


HOW  A  DAM  BECAME  A  CITY. 

In  this  water-logged  country  a  dam  is  the  foun¬ 
dation  and  beginning  of  a  city.  We  note  that 
the  names  of  all  the  ships  of  the  N.  A.  S.  M.  Com¬ 
pany  end  in  dam.  The  suggestion  of  profanity 
is  only  in  English  and  when  mispronounced,  with 
a  short  a.  The  word  does  not  sound  at  all  im¬ 
proper  uttered  in  Dutch,  with  a  as  o  in  Tom. 
Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Spaarndam,  Edam,  Schie¬ 
dam,  etc.,  were  originally  the  dams  on  the  Amstel, 
Rotte,  Spaarn,  E,  and  Schie  rivers.  We  are  in  a 
country  built  like  a  ship,  in  water-tight  compart¬ 
ments,  and  the  dykes  and  dams  are  the  parti¬ 
tions. 

To  study  the  evolution  of  a  Dutch  town,  let  us 
pass  by  “  the  new  city  ”  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Maas  where  we  land,  the  foundries  and  docks 
on  the  Noorder-eiland  in  mid  river,  and  even  the 
gay  parks,  elegant  avenues,  and  smart  shops  of 
modern  Rotterdam.  We  move  at  once  to  Hoog 
Straat,  or  High  Street,  in  the  old  town.  Near 
the  great  cathedral,  with  the  open  market-place 
close  at  hand,  we  shall  find  the  place  of  begin¬ 
nings. 


20 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


If  we  are  to  climb  up  to  tbe  High  Street  we 
must  ascend  the  steiger ,  stages  or  steps.  At  the 
base  of  the  raised  ground  we  shall  also  find  a 
dale  or  valley.  Let  us  read  the  street-signs.  Yes, 
there  they  are,  —  Steiger,  and  Boeren-steiger,  or 
Farmer’s  steps.  Long  since,  however,  the  stairs 
have  become  an  incline.  Sloping  to  the  canal  is 
Groenen-daal  or  Green-valley.  From  the  top  of 
High  Street  we  look  down  on  Kip  Straat,  another 
old  and  quaint  street.  To  the  north  the  land  is 
flat,  with  scarcely  one  canal  until  we  reach  the 
Singel,  or  outer  moat ;  while  to  the  right,  towards 
the  Maas,  is  low  land  with  many  water-ways 
named  canals,  gats,  vests,  havens,  grachts,  and 
sloots.  These  are  the  Dutch  words  for  ditches, 
drains,  locks,  trenches,  etc..  Occasionally  we  read 
on  the  street  signs  “  gedempte.”  If  we  think  of 
our  word  “  dump,”  we  can  understand  that  the 
old  canal  has  been  filled  up  by  having  many  loads 
of  earth  dumped  into  it  and  thus  made  into  a 
street.  If  English  had  not  long  ago  lost  its  in¬ 
flections,  we  should  speak  of  a  carter’s  having 
“  ge-dumped  ”  his  load  of  coal  or  brick. 

Standing  on  High  Street,  we  are  on  the  back¬ 
bone  of  the  country,  —  the  dyke  forty  miles  long 
that  stretches  from  Gouda  to  the  sea.  When  the 
Maas  floods  rise,  much  of  the  new  city  of  Rotter¬ 
dam  is  under  water.  Cellars  are  filled,  and  boats 
ply  in  the  streets ;  but  beyond  this  great  dyke, 
never.  It  is  always  dry  here. 


HOW  A  DAM  BECAME  A  CITY. 


21 


Read  the  street  names,  and  the  history  of  the 
city  tells  itself.  The  original  village,  gathered 
around  the  church,  is  in  the  form  of  a  triangle. 
Two  sides  are  formed  by  the  Rotte  River,  now 
tamed  and  harnessed  for  man’s  service  in  canals 
and  sluices,  with  gates,  locks,  and  bridges.  The 
linen  industry  has  flourished  here  for  centuries, 
and  the  routing  of  the  flax  stalks  in  the  water 
gave  the  river  its  name.  Down  towards  the  Maas 
is  Yisscher’s  dyk,  or  Fisher’s  dyke.  Back  of 
their  huts,  at  the  foot  of  the  steps,  the  fishermen 
were  accustomed  to  hang  their  nets  to  dry,  and  so 
the  street  is  still  called  the  Hang, 

After  these  very  old  village  streets  come  names 
given  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Most  of  the  old  tow¬ 
ers,  castles,  and  abbeys,  now  passed  away,  have 
left  memories  behind.  As  in  nearly  every  Dutch 
city,  there  are  land  or  water  streets  in  Rotterdam 
named  after  the  prince  and  the  gentlemen,  though 
not  here,  as  in  old  Leyden,  after  the  emperor. 
Lombard  Street  tells  of  the  Italian  money  chang¬ 
ers  and  lenders  who  lived  here  before  banks  ex¬ 
isted  in  northern  Europe.  Then  there  is  a  Broad 
(Breede)  Street,  as  in  many  Dutch  towns.  In¬ 
deed,  one  can  find  the  original  of  not  a  few  pecul¬ 
iar  street  names  of  old  New  York  and  Philadel¬ 
phia.  In  many  other  places  in  the  Middle  States, 
which  were  settled  by  men  from  the  Netherlands, 
the  street  names  and  local  expressions  are  sur« 
vivals  from  the  Dutch. 


22  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 

The  mark  of  the  Spaniard  on  Dutch  history  is 
deep,  and  here  it  is  plain.  You  find  Spanjaard’s 
laan  or  lane,  Spansche  brug  or  steeg  or  kade, 
bridge,  alley,  or  quay,  in  towns  all  over  Holland. 
In  Rotterdam,  besides  the  Spanish  bridge,  the 
House  of  a  Thousand  Fears  was  long  one  of  the 
64  lions  ”  of  the  city.  After  the  capture  of  Brill 
by  the  Water  Beggars,  or  Dutch  patriots,  in  1572, 
Count  Bossu,  the  Spanish  commander,  tried  to  re¬ 
take  it,  but  was  repulsed.  Smarting  at  his  loss 
and  humiliation,  he  appeared  before  the  east  gate 
of  Rotterdam  on  the  9th  of  April.  After  a  par¬ 
ley  the  Spanish  commander  agreed  to  march  his 
troops  through  the  city  in  small  divisions,  and 
but  one  division  at  a  time.  No  sooner  was  the 
gate  opened,  however,  than  Bossu  rushed  in  with 
his  whole  force  at  once  and  began  the  slaughter 
of  the  citizens.  The  Rotterdammers  made  stout 
resistance.  One  man  named  Zwarte  Jan,  or  Black 
John,  killed  several  Spaniards  before  being  cut 
down  by  Bossu  himself. 

The  town  was  at  once  given  up  to  plunder. 
The  statue  of  Erasmus  was  fired  at  and  then  tum¬ 
bled  into  the  canal.  The  houses  were  entered, 
and  men,  women,  and  children  slaughtered,  until 
the  blood  ran  out  on  the  pavement.  In  one  dwell¬ 
ing  the  people  killed  their  cats,  smeared  the  walls 
and  let  the  blood  flow  through  the  doorway  into 
the  street.  Seeing  these  marks  of  slaughter  and 
the  door  open,  the  soldiers  in  their  heat  supposed 


HOW  A  DAM  BECAME  A  CITY. 


28 


their  comrades  had  already  plundered  the  house 
and  so  passed  on.  When  the  rage  was  over,  the 
people  went  about  their  ordinary  business,  though 
the  Spaniards  occupied  the  town  for  nearly  four 
months.  This  quaint  old  house  stood  until  1890, 
at  No.  3  in  the  Hang.  It  had  a  tablet  represent¬ 
ing  the  killing  of  the  cats.  To-day  a  smart  new 
shop,  in  which  are  sold  beds  and  furniture,  stands 
on  the  site.  Over  the  plate-glass  window  the 
words,  “  Huis  in  Duizend  Vreezen  ”  (House  of  a 
Thousand  Fears),  recall  the  troubles  of  those 
centuries  ago.  The  dainty  baby  beds  and  satin- 
lined  carriages  tell  the  tale  of  peace  and  com¬ 
fort. 

Less  terrible  reminders  of  the  century  or  more 
of  Spanish  influence  upon  the  Dutch  are  seen  in 
their  language  and  faces.  Many  words  used  in 
the  arts  and  sciences,  polite  terms  and  forms  of 
address  are  of  Spanish  origin.  Frequently  on  the 
streets  we  meet  people  who  are  full-blooded  ” 
Dutchmen,  so  far  as  immediate  parentage  and. 
language  are  concerned.  They  look  as  if  they 
had  stepped  out  of  picture-frames  hung  up  in 
Madrid  or  Castile.  They  have  the  Spanish  nose-, 
chin,  eyes,  cheeks,  hair.  Soldiers  under  Alva,  or 
merchants  in  the  time  of  Charles  V,  were  their 
ancestors.  As  for  the  Dutch  ladies,  one  notices 
two  distinct  types  of  beauty.  In  the  one,  blonde 
features,  yellow  hair,  and  blue  eyes  tell  of  Saxon 
or  some  other  Teutonic  type.  In  the  other,  tjie 


24 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


dark  olive  skin,  raven  black  hair,  short  nose,  and 
carnation  cheeks  point  to  ancestors  who  came 
from  beyond  the  Apennines. 

Rotterdam’s  first  dyke  dates  from  the  year 
1000.  It  became  part  of  the  great  dyke  in 
1281.  The  town  secured  its  charter  in  1340. 
It  became  a  city  of  the  first  class  in  1615.  It 
has  been  built  up  by  its  rich  trade  with  the  East 
and  with  Germany.  Now  it  is  one  of  the  most 
thriving  cities  in  Nederland.  “More  houses  were 
built  here  last  year,”  says  the  American  consul,  a 
citizen  of  Wisconsin,  “  than  were  erected  in  Mih 
waukee.”  New  dykes  are  being  built,  canals  cut, 
land  reclaimed,  and  the  suburbs  beautified.  The 
ancient  village  of  fishers  and  flax-men  has  become 
a  rich  city  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou¬ 
sand  souls. 

Dutch  civilization  begins  with  a  dyke.  Who 
built  the  first  in  Nederland?  Was  it  the  abo¬ 
riginal  Celts  or  Teutons  ?  No  !  It  was  civilized 
men,  the  engineers  of  Imperial  Rome.  If  the 
Dutchmen  owe  much  to  the  men  of  the  Middle 
Ages  from  the  Iberian  peninsula,  they  were  in¬ 
debted  still  more  to  the  ancient  civilizers  from 
beyond  the  Alps. 

The  answer  to  our  question  suggests  written 
history,  order,  law,  industry.  Life  without  letters 
is  death.  The  Romans  brought  writing  and  light. 
Let  us  look  at  the  Nederland  of  to-day  to  see  if 
the  men  who  spoke  Latin  have  left  any  traces. 


#  ROW  A  DAM  BECAME  A  CITY.  25 

We  shall  take  a  steamer  up  the  Rhine  River,  so 
long  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Roman  realm. 
At  Nymegen  we  shall  refresh  our  reading  of 
Caesar  and  Tacitus,  as  we  look  upon  the  relics 
of  a  world  that  has  passed  away. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  FIRST  INHABITANTS  OF  NEDERLAND. 

Of  the  people  in  this  region  of  Europe  before 
the  Roman  era  we  know  as  little  as  we  do  of  the 
North  American  Indians  before  the  white  man 
came.  From  Caesar  we  learn  that  the  tribes  in 
the  swampy  lowlands  to  the  south  were  mostly 
of  Celtic  stock  called  Nervii,  Menapii,  etc.  In 
the  central  portion  were  the  Batavi  and  Kanine- 
faten.  In  the  north  were  the  Frisians. 

Probably  the  most  famous  of  all  were  the  Bata¬ 
vians.  These  people  once  belonged  to  the  Chatti, 
who  lived  farther  east  in  the  German  forests.  In 
a  great  quarrel  which  divided  the  Chatti  tribe, 
those  exiles  moved  westward.  Finding  a  fertile 
island  in  the  Rhine,  they  called  it  by  a  name 
meaning  good  meadow.  Brave  and  warlike,  the 
young  Batavian  wore  his  hair  long,  and  never  cut 
it  until  he  had  slain  an  enemy.  Amid  the  blood 
of  the  slaughtered,  on  the  field  of  battle,  the 
warrior  had  his  face  shaved  and  his  locks  shorn. 
At  the  same  time  he  flung  away  the  iron  collar 
he  had  worn  as  an  emblem  of  youth.  Hence¬ 
forward  he  was  a  man. 

Even  in  these  early  ages  the  differences  in  the 


FIRST  INHABITANTS  OF  NEDERLAND.  27 

two  kinds  of  people  inhabiting  the  Netherlands 
were  great.  In  religion  the  Celtic  tribes  were  led 
by  priests  who  were  despotic  and  formed  a  caste. 
The  Druidic  sacrifices  were  bloody.  Thousands 
of  human  beings  were  put  to  death  for  the  sake 
of  the  gods.  In  politics  the  Celts  united  in 
clans  and  aristocracies.  They  practiced  agricul¬ 
ture,  had  many  cattle,  and  not  a  few  of  the  arts 
of  life.  They  were  fond  of  dress  and  jewelry. 
They  were  not  noted  for  good  morals.  Brave 
and  impulsive,  they  lacked  endurance. 

The  Germanic  tribes  were  hunters  and  men  of 
war,  caring  little  for  rich  dress  or  ornament. 
Though  they  had  chiefs  or  kings,  their  rule  was 
democratic.  Affairs  were  decided  in  a  general 
assembly.  In  religion  they  had  no  temples,  but 
worshiped  one  Almighty  Father,  yet  had  no 
caste  of  priests.  More  independent,  self-reliant, 
enduring,  moral,  and  warlike  than  the  Celts,  the 
Germans  were  like  them  in  largeness  of  body. 
To  both  these  the  Romans  seemed  like  boys,  but 
the  barbarians  soon  found  that  discipline  is  more 
than  a  match  for  muscle. 

In  the  stone  age  life  was  a  severe  struggle  for 
existence.  While  the  higher  land  was  covered 
with  woods,  and  the  lower  levels  with  sedge  and 
reeds,  the  game  was  deer,  wild  swine,  bears,  and 
wolves.  These  hunters  and  fishermen  chipped 
stones,  drilled  shells,  and  sharpened  and  barbed 
bones.  These  they  tied  with  withes  or  sinews 


28 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


to  wooden  shafts  or  handles,  making  spears, 
arrows,  harpoons,  hoes,  and  tools  of  all  sorts ; 
even  their  money  and  jewelry  were  of  stone  or 
bone.  They  used  fire  for  hardening  their  weap¬ 
ons,  cooking  their  food,  warming  their  huts,  and 
baking  a  rude  sort  of  pottery. 

In  time  the  age  of  metals  came.  They  smelted 
ores,  and  beat  out  iron,  copper,  and  gold.  Their 
clothes  were  of  skin,  or  of  rudely-woven  fibres. 
They  were  fond  of  winter  sports,  making  snow- 
shoes  and  sledges,  and  using  them  skillfully,  even 
before  they  set  iron  blades  in  wood.  They  drilled 
bones  to  make  skates,  and  binding  them  round 
their  well-wrapped  feet,  slid  over  the  ice  with 
delight. 

The  German  had  one  wife,  and  on  his  wedding 
day  made  her  presents  of  a  horse,  an  ox,  a  shield 
and  a  spear.  The  Celt  placed  on  his  bride  neck¬ 
laces  and  bracelets  of  gold.  Most  of  the  tribes 
burned  the  corpses  of  the  dead  and  stored  their 
ashes  in  urns,  making  graveyards  in  mounds 
raised  above  the  flood  line. 

In  the  threefold  evidence  gathered  from  the 
museums  of  Dutch  cities,  on  the  pages  of  the 
Latin  writers,  and  in  the  traits  of  their  scattered 
descendants,  we  read  dimly  the  story  of  these 
rude  men  of  the  fens  and  marshes.  They  were 
the  forbears,  or  distant  ancestors,  of  the  American 
people.  Like  the  ancient  Jews  or  the  modern 
English,  we  are  among  the  most  mixed  in  blood 


FIRST  INHABITANTS  OF  NEDERLAND.  29 


of  any  nation  under  heaven.  The  two  great- 
races,  the  Celtic  and  the  Germanic,  in  the  Neth¬ 
erlands,  in  the  British  empire,  and  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  are  still  distinguishable,  as  are 
the  blue  and  brown  waters  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Mississippi  where  they  unite.  Thirty  centuries 
have  put  emphasis  upon  the  traits  visible  in  the 
Celt  and  the  Saxon,  —  the  Irish,  French,  Gaels, 
Britons  on  the  one  hand,  the  “Anglo-Saxon,” 
Dutch,  Norse,  and  Germans  on  the  other.  To 
note  and  understand  this  difference  is  to  hold  the 
key  to  much  of  the  history  of  Holland,  England, 
and  America. 

By  the  time  that  Caesar  had  marched  through 
Gaul,  landed  in  Britain,  and  occupied  the  Rhine 
delta,  the  Nederlanders,  besides  working  skill¬ 
fully  in  bronze  and  pottery,  had  some  knowledge 
of  iron.  They  used  this  metal  especially  in  mak¬ 
ing  their  weapons.  Steel  was  as  yet  unknown. 
Even  the  spatula,  or  short,  wide,  and  two-edged 
sword  of  the  Roman  legionary,  was  of  iron.  In 
using  it  in  battle  he  often  bent  it.  Then  he  had 
to  straighten  it  by  pressing  the  blade  under  his 
foot.  The  Nederland  men  used  very  long  knives, 
but  these  were  as  much  despised  by  the  well-disci¬ 
plined  Romans  as  big  bore  muskets  are  looked 
upon  with  contempt  by  riflemen  who  prefer  small 
calibres.  The  legionaries  fought  in  ranks  so 
closely  joined  together  that  it  was  very  hard  for  the 
heavier  fen  and  forest  men  to  break  them  even 


30 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


with  a  terrific  rush  in  mass.  “  The  people  that 
shortens  its  weapons  lengthens  its  boundaries,” 
says  our  own  Doctor  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
some  of  whose  ancestors  were  Dutchmen  in  Amer¬ 
ica. 

The  short  iron  sword  of  the  legionaries  pre¬ 
vailed  over  the  Belgae  and  other  Celtic  tribes. 
The  Romans  compelled  the  Frisians,  also,  to  pay 
tribute,  but  they  could  not  wholly  beat  down  the 
Batavians.  These  were  not  subdued  but  concili¬ 
ated.  In  the  Rhine  region  the  Romans  planted 
camps,  reared  watch-towers,  and  prepared  to  make 
the  country  a  part,  first  of  the  Roman  republic, 
and  then  of  the  empire  of  the  Caesars.  They  had 
come  to  stay.  One  great  uprising  led  by  the  Nervii 
was  crushed  out  by  Caesar,  who  with  the  swords 
of  eight  legions  annihilated  whole  tribes.  Gaul 
was  pacified,  and  the  river-land  became  quiet. 

Soon  it  was  rumored  among  the  tribes  that  the 
Batavi  had  become  allies  with  their  enemies,  and 
enlisted  under  the  golden  eagles  and  the  mystic 
letters  S.  P.  Q.  R.  As  cavalry  and  infantry,  these 
hardy  young  fellows  from  the  swamps  proved 
themselves  good  soldiers.  Trusted  by  their  com¬ 
manders,  and  submitting  handsomely  to  strict  dis¬ 
cipline,  they  entered  not  only  the  legions,  but  also 
the  life  guards.  It  came  to  pass  that  in  the  death 
struggle  between  the  republicans,  led  by  Pompey, 
and  the  imperialists,  headed  by  Julius  Caesar,  the 
Batavi  were  ranged  with  the  latter.  The  battle 


FIRST  INHABITANTS  OF  NEDERLAND.  31 

which  decided  the  fate  of  the  Roman  world  was 
fought  at  Pharsalia  in  Thessaly  on  the  6th  of 
June,  B.  c.  48.  It  was  Caesar’s  body  of  veteran 
cavalry,  only  a  thousand  in  number,  but  composed 
mainly  of  Batavians,  that  turned  the  tide  of  bat. 
tie  and  gave  him  the  victory.  Laier  on,  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  these  and  other  Netherland  soldiers  in  the 
Praetorian  guard  in  the  Eternal  City  became  po¬ 
litical  as  well  as  military.  They  made  and  unmade 
emperors,  setting  up  Caesars  and  bowling  them 
down  like  players  frolicking  with  ten-pins. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


THE  ROMAN  OCCUPATION. 

Did  Providence  mean  that  these  ancient  fern 
men  were  to  be  Romans,  and  that  Nederland  was 
to  be  a  fraction  of  the  Latin  world  ? 

Evidently  not.  A  few  years  before  Mary  bore 
her  manger-child  under  the  Roman  eagles  at  Beth¬ 
lehem,  another  babe  had  been  born  in  the  forests 
north  of  the  Rhine.  His  name  in  Latin  is  Ar- 
minius,  but  his  mother  and  his  countrymen  called 
him  Hermann  or  German.  He  was  of  the  tribe 
of  the  Cherusci. 

Growing  up  to  manhood,  this  boy  learned  the 
secrets  of  Roman  discipline  and  the  arts  of  peace 
and  war,  and  was  made  chief.  He  resolved  to 
free  his  countrymen  from  their  foreign  masters. 
Secretly  summoning  all  the  tribes,  he  so  lulled 
the  imperial  general  Yarus  into  security  that  vic¬ 
tory  over  the  legions  seemed  at  least  possible.  In 
the  impassable  forests  of  Teutoburg,  a.  d.  15,  a 
three  days’  battle  began  in  which  the  Germans 
annihilated  the  Romans. 

This  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  the  world,  for  it  settled  the  future  of 
northern  Europe.  Neither  emperors  nor  popes 


THE  ROMAN  OCCUPATION. 


33 


were  likely  thereafter  to  hold  the  Germans.  This 
victory  made  possible  the  Reformation,  the  Dutch 
Republic,  the  English  Commonwealth,  and  the 
American  Union.  Yet,  like  many  other  events 
which  attract  no  more  attention  than  the  birth  of 
a  man  whose  greatness  is  not  foreseen,  the  far- 
reaching  influence  of  Hermann’s  victory  was  not 
suspected  by  Latin  writers.  Now  all  the  world 
knows  about  his  work.  On  a  hill  near  the  town 
of  Detmold,  tens  of  thousands  of  Germans  gath¬ 
ered  on  the  10th  of  August,  1875,  to  unveil  a 
colossal  statue  fifty-six  feet  high,  by  Bandel,  of 
“  Hermann,  the  Liberator  of  Germany.” 

The  great  Roman  general  and  provincial  gov¬ 
ernor  Germanicus  attempted  in  two  campaigns 
to  regain  the  lost  ground.  The  Batavians  were 
obliged  to  fight  with  him  against  their  Teutonic 
countrymen.  It  is  said  by  Tacitus,  that  when 
marching  through  Friesland  the  spectre  of  Yarus 
confronted  Germanicus  and  warned  him  that  the 
Teutonic  spirit  was  unconquered.  In  the  height 
of  his  victories  he  was  recalled  to  Rome  by  Tibe¬ 
rius.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  superb  pic¬ 
ture  by  Piloty  of  Munich,  which  represents  his 
triumph  in  Rome  and  the  humiliation  of  Thus- 
nelda,  the  stately  Teutonic  queen  and  wife  of 
Hermann.  With  her  little  son  she  walks  as  pris¬ 
oner  of  war,  but  scorns  to  look  up  at  her  conquer¬ 
ors  or  smile  at  them.  The  old  bards,  the  maidens 
and  warriors,  the  live  bears  and  trophies  of  the 


34 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


forest,  grace  the  procession  and  amuse  the  curious, 
while  the  air  resounds  with  cheers  and  wreaths 
are  thrown  by  fair  hands  upon  the  victors. 

Nevertheless,  the  effects  of  the  military  activity 
of  Germanicus  were  utterly  lost.  After  that  time, 
IT  A.  D.,  no  Roman  army  ever  again  penetrated 
from  the  Rhine  into  the  interior  of  Germany. 

Several  campaigns  among  the  Frisians  and 
other  tribes  were  made  by  taking  the  sea-route 
from  Gaul.  So  many  soldiers  were  drowned  in 
floods  and  storms,  and  by  the  sudden  rolling  in  of 
the  waters,  that  to  hold  the  country  it  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  build  military  roads  and  dykes,  as  had 
been  done  farther  south. 

Drusus,  a  stepson  of  Augustus,  was  the  first 
(about  9  B.  c.)  to  begin  engineering  operations  in 
Nederland.  A  canal  called  the  Drusus-gracht,  or 
canal  of  Drusus,  still  exists.  Dykes,  by  which  the 
legions  could  be  quickly  marched  to  quell  upris¬ 
ings,  were  made  under  his  orders.  Corbulo  dug 
a  canal  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Maas  to  assist 
commerce  and  develop  inland  trade.  It  is  proba¬ 
ble,  also,  that  the  town  of  Delft,  meaning  delved 
or  dug,  got  its  name  about  this  time,  because  a 
vaart ,  or  water-passage,  was  cut  tinder  Corbulo’s 
orders,  the  work  being  done  by  native  diggers. 

The  Nederlanders  were  among  the  first  in  north¬ 
western  Europe  to  handle  skillfully  the  spade  and 
shovel.  Evidently  Jack  Cade  and  his  men  con¬ 
sidered  that  Adam  was  a  digger,  as  surely  as  Eve 
was  a  spinster : 


THE  HOMAN  OCCUPATION . 


35 


“  When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 

Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ? 

By  and  by  the  Nederlanders  got  tired  of  being 
slaves  to  the  Romans,  and  of  digging  and  sol¬ 
diering.  Neither  the  men  of  the  spade  nor  of 
the  sword  were  treated  justly  or  kindly  by  their 
masters.  Servitude,  even  with  high  wages,  was 
not  so  dear  as  freedom.  In  a.  d.  69  a  Batavian 
noble  named  Civilis  took  advantage  of  the  quarrel 
between  Yitellius  and  Yespasian  to  attempt  to 
regain  freedom.  The  Celtic  tribes  quickly  and 
impetuously  attacked  the  Roman  troops  in  their 
intrenchments.  The  Frisians  and  Batavians  were 
'  slower  to  rise,  but  when  once  roused,  they  held 
on  steadfastly  to  the  end.  Battles  were  fought 
at-Xanten  and  Keulen,  but  the  superior  engines, 
weapons,  and  discipline  of  the  legions  prevailed. 
The  tribes  belonging  to  Gaul  gave  up  the  strug¬ 
gle,  and  Civilis  was  left  alone  with  a  few  faithful 
men  from  the  north.  He  agreed  to  meet  the 
Roman  general  Cerealis  on  a  bridge  which  was 
broken  in  two,  and  there  to  talk  over  terms  of 
peace. 

.  This  is  all  we  know,  for  the  story  as  told  by 
Tacitus  breaks  off  abruptly  at  this  point.  A  long 
period  of  Roman  domination  succeeded.  Farmers, 
traders,  and  sailors  came  up  from  Italy,  and  for 
hundreds  of  years  the  natives  and  men  of  the 
south  lived  peaceably  side  by  side.  The  pave* 
ments,  solid  roads,  baths,  palaces,  and  walled  cities 


36 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


of  civilization  contrasted  with  the  trails,  cow* 
paths,  huts,  and  skin  garments  of  our  savage 
ancestors,  whose  rudeness  and  ignorance  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult  at  this  day  to  realize. 

In  our  day,  as  we  travel  along  the  Rhine  or 
Zuyder  Zee,  we  see  traces  of  the  Romans  every¬ 
where.  Kampen  was  the  place  of  camps,  and 
Cologne  of  a  colony.  At  every  trecht ,  as  we  ride 
up  to  Nymegen,  Utrecht,  Sliedrecht,  Maastricht, 
Dordrecht,  etc.,  we  pass  an  ancient  Roman  ford 
or  ferry  around  which  a  town  has  grown.  Old 
Roman  roads  now  form  the  Broad  or  main  street 
of  many  a  Dutch  city.  To  this  day,  the  peculiar 
laws  of  the  Water  State  in  Holland,  concerning 
watercourses  of  all  kinds,  are  based  on  the  Roman 
system.  When  a  few  years  ago  the  question  was 
mooted  in  the  courts  of  the  Empire  State  as  to 
who  owned  the  bottom  of  the  Mohawk  River,  it 
was  decided  according  to  Dutch-Roman  prece¬ 
dents.  The  fat  soil  of  Holland  still  contains 
many  a  coin  and  work  of  skill  or  art.  The  plough 
never  ceases  to  bring  to  resurrection  these  relics 
of  a  world  that  has  passed  away. 

It  touches  the  imagination,  warms  the  hearty 
and  moistens  the  eyes  to  walk  through  a  mu¬ 
seum  like  that  at  Nymegen.  Here  are  dolls  and 
toys  with  which  Roman  children  played,  and 
jewelry  that  once  adorned  their  mothers’  persons. 
Here  is  a  necklace  that  rose  and  fell  on  the  bosom 
of  beauty.  There  were  homes  here,  as  well  as 


THE  ROMAN  OCCUPATION. 


37 


markets  and  camps.  Up  from  sunny  Italy  came 
the  judge  and  merchant  with  their  children  as 
well  as  the  centurion  with  his  men  in  armor. 
Along  this  old  Rhine  were  horn  boys  and  girls 
who  played  on  the  pavements  in  the  streets, 
frolicked  on  the  tesselated  and  mosaic  floors,  and 
splashed  in  marble  baths.  German  -  speaking 
nurses  or  men-servants  waited  on  them,  but  their 
speech  was  Latin,  and  all  expected  to  go  to  school 
or  college  in  the  Eternal  City,  or  at  least  to  visit 
Rome.  The  southland  beyond  the  Alps  was  their 
home,  the  Rhineland  was  their  dwelling-place, 
camp,  or  colony.  Here  among  the  northern  bar¬ 
barians  they  worshiped  their  own  gods.  Before 
our  eyes  is  the  cold  stone  altar  of  the  Tenth 
Legion,  which  once  statedly  smoked  with  sacrifice. 
The  history  of  that  famous  army  corps,  Number 
Ten,  can  almost  be  written  from  its  relics  left  in 
the  ground  where  the  legionaries  marched,  camped, 
or  fought,  in  France,  England,  Netherlands,  and 
Germany.  These  men  of  the  Tenth  Legion 
touched  our  ancestral  life  at  many  points. 

In  the  fourth  century  we  hear  of  a  great  battle 
near  Strasburg,  in  which  the  Batavian  cavalry 
again  win  the  day  for  the  Emperor  Julian,  who 
beats  back  the  Franks  and  Allemanni.  In  the 
fifth  century  the  legions  are  withdrawn,  and 
Roman  dominion  passes  away. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  SAXO-FRISIAN  MOVEMENT. 

When  the  Romans  turned  their  backs  on  the 
Rhineland,  leaving  forever  their  cities,  camps, 
houses,  and  farms,  a  thick  night  fell  over  the 
region.  Of  the  details  of  what  happened  in  Ne¬ 
derland  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  we 
know  next  to  nothing.  “  Life  without  letters  is 
death.”  The  historic  page  is  blank. 

Nevertheless,  we  know  something  in  outline.  It 
was  a  time  of  the  migration  of  whole  nations. 
Horde  after  horde  poured  out  of  the  north  and 
east,  and  pushed  southward  and  westward  both  by 
land  and  sea.  The  Teutonic  bards  had  foretold 
the  destiny  of  their  people  to  overthrow  Rome 
and  build  up  a  world-empire.  Over  the  Nether¬ 
lands  tramped  the  Franks,  Vandals,  Alans,  Suevi, 
Saxons,  and  Frisians.  Collectively  they  were 
called  Allemanni,  that  is,  all  men.  There  were 
many  Frisians,  and  even  those  people  from  whom 
comes  our  word  “  slave,”  the  Sclayes  or  Scla- 
vonians,  were  numerous.  W e  shall  trace  the  wan¬ 
derings  of  those  tribes  only  which  most  interest 
us,  because  we  inherit  their  blood,  traits,  ideas, 
and  institutions. 

Just  north  and  east  of  Friesland  lived  the  Jutes 


THE  SAX O-FRISIAN  MOVEMENT.  39 

and  Angles,  while  to  the  eastward,  over  a  vast 
region,  dwelt  the  Saxons.  These  people  were  all 
of  Teutonic  origin.  Those  in  the  peninsulas  lived 
in  perpetual  danger  of  sea  and  flood,  yet  they 
grew  brave  and  hardy  in  mastery  of  the  water. 
They  were  ploughers  of  the  waves  even  more  than 
of  the  soil.  They  loved  booty  and  battle  and 
were  great  robbers  and  fighters.  When  at  home 
in  their  timber  castles,  they  drank  mead  and  ate 
boar-meat  at  their  feasts,  and  enjoyed  hearing  the 
gleemen  or  singers  recount  in  poetry  the  deeds  of 
their  heroes.  During  the  Roman  occupation  these 
men  inhabited  what  was  afterwards  called  the 
Schleswig  -  Holstein  peninsula,  and  the  Dane’s 
mark  or  Denmark.  Even  at  this  time  they  were 
more  fond  of  booty  than  afraid  of  the  legionaries. 
They  penetrated  by  sea  into  Belgium  and  Britain. 

In  the  fifth  century  the  German  world,  even 
the  Allemanni,  or  all  men  of  many  tribes,  broke 
down  the  Roman  world.  The  Jutes  and  Angles 
streamed  into  England  and  founded  kingdoms. 
In  Kent,  the  Jutes  held  their  own*.  In  Anglia, 
or  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  the  Angles  drove  back 
the  Celtic  Britons  and  settled  themselves  in  the 
forests,  marshes,  and  open  spaces.  Angleland  be¬ 
came  England.  The  Saxons  overran  Nederland 
also,  and  built  their  towns  along  the  seacoast. 
Then  these  Saxo-Frisians  had  only  to  spread  sail 
or  ply  oars  to  reach  easily  the  land  toward  the 
setting  sun.  Often  in  fair  weather  they  were  but 


40 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


a  day  or  two  in  crossing,  but  again  in  stormy 
weather  they  were  tossed  on  the  salt  water  for 
weeks.  Soon  a  strip  of  land  along  the  south¬ 
eastern  coast  of  England  was  called  “  the  Saxon 
shore,”  from  the  number  of  their  boats  beached 
there.  They  too  drove  the  Britons  westward  to¬ 
ward  Wales,  and  founded  Essex,  Wessex,  and 
Sussex,  or  the  East,  West,  and  South  Saxons  ; 
the  Angles  having  their  southfolk  or  Suffolk  and 
their  northfolk  or  Norfolk.  In  later  times  the 
term  Anglo-Saxon  has  been  used  to  designate 
these  Germanic  invaders  of  Britain,  as  if  they 
were  only  Angles  and  Saxons.  As  matter  of  fact, 
there  were  many  other  tribesmen.  Probably  a 
majority  of  these  early  settlers,  all  relatives  and 
allies,  were  Frisians.  In  the  broad  sense  of  the 
word,  these  makers  of  England  were  Dutchmen. 
They  came  from  the  larger  Teutonic  world  to  live 
on  an  island.  They  did  not  kill  off  all  the  Britons 
but  mixed  with  them.  The  English  people  are 
Celto-Saxon,  rather  than  Anglo-Saxon.  At  its 
base,  the  English  language  is  Germanic.  The 
earliest  myths,  poetry,  and  stock  of  ideas,  and 
social  and  political  institutions,  are  the  same  as 
those  of  their  brethren  on  the  mainland.  They 
were  Dutch  before  they  were  English. 

On  both  island  and  continent,  these  savages 
poured  down  into  the  regions  once  held  by  the 
Romans.  There  these  backwoodsmen  were  con¬ 
fronted  with  striking  monuments  of  art  and  in' 


THE  SAXO-FRISIAN  MOVEMENT. 


41 


dustry.  In  both  Holland  and  England,  the  words 
we  pronounce  as  “  street,’.  “  colony,”  “  port,” 
“wall,”  and  “canal”  show  what  most  impressed 
our  Saxo-Frisian  ancestors.  In  the  ruin  wrought 
by  them  with  sword  and  fire,  fortresses  and  rich 
edifices  were  left  to  crumble,  and  their  fragments 
to  sink  deep  in  the  soil.  Mosaic  pavements,  under 
the  action  of  earth-worms,  gradually  disappeared 
as  if  in  an  ocean.  Long  afterwards,  becoming 
the  playthings  of  farmers’  children,  or  adorn¬ 
ing  the  museums,  these  relics  illuminate  history. 
Each  corroded  weapon,  fresh-surfaced  tile,  or  coin 
with  letters  still  legible,  is  like  a  window,  into 
which  the  descendants  of  these  once  cruel  savages 

O 

love  to  look  to  read  the  story  of  the  past. 

Apparently  destroyed,  the  ideas,  spirit,  and  cul¬ 
ture  of  Rome  and  Constantinople  never  utterly 
died  out.  The  relics  fed  thoughtful  minds.  The 
alphabet,  so  secret  and  mysterious*  to  our  igno¬ 
rant  forefathers,  was  transformed  into  runes,  or 
the  letters  were  given  Germanic  names.  Wher¬ 
ever  the  Norse  or  northern  Teutonic  tribes  wan¬ 
dered  or  settled  in  Netherlands,  Scotland,  Britain, 
Ireland,  or  Massachusetts,  these  runes  are  found 
on  horn,  blade,  or  enduring  rock. 

After  these  floods  of  humanity  had  changed 
the  face  of  Nederland,  removing  many  old  land¬ 
marks  and  making  new  deposits,  the  race-stocks 
were  still  the  same.  Celtic  tribes  were  in  the 
south,  Germanic  peoples  in  the  north.  The  Bata- 


42 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


vians  melted  away  among  the  Frisians.  Over  all 
the  territory  afterwards  covered  by  the  Dutch 
Republic  lived  the  near  relations  of  the  “  Anglo- 
Saxons.”  They  are  one  in  blood  and  language, 
ideas  and  religion  with  those  who  crossed  over  to 
England.  In  all  later  history,  these  Nederland 
Dutchmen  are  like  the  English  rather  than  the 
mid-European  German  people. 

Christian  teachers  formed  the  first  strong  bond 
to  hold  them  together.  Ireland,  early  Christian¬ 
ized  by  Saint  Patrick,  was  one  of  the  earliest 
centres  of  light  and  learning  in  western  Europe. 
From  the  Emerald  Isle  the  missionaries  crossed 
first  over  to  the  eastward,  and  taught  among  the 
Dutchmen  in  England.  These  Christian  teach¬ 
ers  succeeded  measurably  well.  In  less  than 
two  centuries  the  Christianized  Dutchmen  in 
England  sent  Irish  and  Scottish  missionaries, 
with  their  countryman,  Wilbrord  of  Exeter,  to 
preach  the  gospel  among  their  kinsmen  in  Frisia. 
Without  an  interpreter  or  needing  one,  Wilbrord 
spoke  to  them  in  their  own  tongue.  Congrega¬ 
tions  of  Christian  Frisians  arose  here  and  there, 
and  were  ministered  to  by  British  pastors.  At 
the  place  called  the  oude-trecht ,  or  old  ford,  that 
is  Utrecht,  the  modest  walls  of  the  first  Chris¬ 
tian  church  edifice  began  to  rise  about  720.  Then 
the  town  which  grew  up  was  called,  by  both  the 
Franks  and  Frisians,  Wiltaburg.  The  city  of 
Utrecht  is  still  the  religious  capital  of  Nederland- 


THE  SAX O-FBISIAN  MOVEMENT.  43 

Wilbrord  was  ably  assisted  by  the  Irish  and 
Scottish  missionaries.  Several  bishoprics,  inde¬ 
pendent  of  Rome,  were  founded.  His  work  was 
powerfully  reinforced  by  the  victories  of  the 
Franks  over  the  Frisians. 

The  southern  Nederlanders,  in  what  is  now  Bel¬ 
gium,  had  become  Romanized  in  manners  and  poli¬ 
tics  and  called  themselves  Franks.  The  break  be¬ 
tween  the  Caesars  and  the  Franks  had  never  been 
as  great  as  between  the  Romans  and  the  Teutonic 
tribes.  In  some  French  cities  the  Roman  laws 
and  privileges  never  died  out,  but  still  exist  in 
continuance.  After  Constantine  had  become  a 
Christian,  in  name  at  least,  we  find  the  Salic 

Franks  united  under  Clovis,  who  was  converted 
A.  d.  496.  Dagobert,  another  king,  in  the  year 

630  won  a  victory  over  the  Frisians,  and  had 
Christian  worship  celebrated  at  Utrecht.  Al¬ 
lying  themselves  with  the  royal  family  of  Bra¬ 
bant,  the  kings  of  the  Franks  held  nominal  sway 
over  the  Frisians.  In  692  Pepin  conquered  Rad- 
bod,  king  of  Frisia,  and  reduced  him  to  the  rank 
of  duke. 

This  victory  of  the  Franks  over  the  Frisians 
gave  a  tremendous  impulse  to  the  propagation  of 
the  Roman  form  of  Christianity  in  Nederland. 
In  the  vear  716  the  Dutch  Englishman  named 
Winfried  left  his  native  country  to  help  Wil¬ 
brord.  Political  troubles  were  too  great  for  much 
success,  and  so  Winfried  returned  home.  In  721 


44 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


he  set  out  again,  and  traveled  through  France 
to  Rome.  This  was  the  time  of  the  increasing 
political  power  of  the  Pope.  Winfried  took  the 
Latin  name  of  Boniface.  With  his  powers  en¬ 
larged  so  as  to  bring  the  independent  bishoprics 
under  the  control  of  Rome,  he  traveled  into  Ger¬ 
many  and  Frisia.  His  work  was  both  political 
and  spiritual.  In  723  he  was  made  a  bishop,  and 
in  732  an  archbishop.  By  force  or  intrigue  he 
drove  away  the  independent  Christian  bishops, 
put  in  their  places  priests  obedient  to  the  Pope, 
and  gradually  brought  the  whole  region  under 
his  sway.  He  made  use  of  both  the  crosier  and 
the  battle-axe,  and  those  of  the  Frisians  not 
killed  were  converted. 

These  bold  measures  enraged  the  Frisians,  and 
they  felt  themselves  galled  by  the  yoke  of  a  new 
sort  of  slavery.  A  reaction,  partly  pagan,  but 
mainly  patriotic,  and  directed  especially  against 
the  claims  of  Rome,  broke  out.  Boniface,  on 
entering  northern  Frisia,  was  murdered  by  the 
pagan  patriots  at  Dokkum,  now  a  little  town 
northwest  of  Leeuwarden,  on  the  9th  of  June, 
A.  D.  755.  Many  are  the  pictures  and  the  sculp¬ 
tures  of  this  saint  in  the  Roman  Catholic  churches 
of  Nederland.  He  is  usually  represented  in  the 
act  of  cutting  down  the  sacred  trees  which  our 
forefathers  dedicated  to  their  gods.  By  the  year 
800  it  may  be  said  that,  after  the  fashion  and  up 
to  the  ideal  of  the  age,  Nederland  belonged  to 
Christendom. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


WHAT  HAS  COME  TO  US  FROM  THE  FRISIANS. 

The  English-speaking  traveler,  especially  if  he 
have  the  scholar’s  ears  and  eyes,  richly  enjoys 
traveling  in  Friesland  to-day.  He  recognizes 
everywhere  the  proofs  of  “  auld  lang  syne  ”  — 
three  words  that  are  Dutch  as  well  as  Scottish. 
Here  is  the  old  homestead  of  the  English  and 
American  peoples.  Frisish  is  the  ancestor  of  our 
speech.  Listen  to  the  country  folk  and  villagers. 
They  say,  “  come  here,”  “  go  on,”  “  back,”  “  on 
board.”  They  construct  sentences  which  are 
either  exactly  like  English,  or  else  so  close  in 
form  as  to  show  sisterly  likeness.  They  pro¬ 
nounce  “bread,”  “butter,”  “water,”  and  “cheese,” 
pretty  much  as  we  do.  A  Dutchman  from  Rot¬ 
terdam  cannot  understand  a  great  deal  of  what 
these  Frisians  say,  but  Rotterdammers  who  know 
English  can.  Even  after  twelve  hundred  years 
of  separation  between  those  who  crossed  the 
North  Sea  and  those  who  stayed  behind,  Frisish 
is  more  like  English  than  any  other  language  on 
earth.  A  Lowland  Scotsman  can  more  easily 
talk  with  these  Frisian  folk  than  can  a  Londoner. 
A  Dutchman  who  knows  English  can  enjoy  Rol> 


46 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


ert  Burns’s  poetry  or  the  local  idioms  in  Sir 
Walter  Scott’s  novels  more  than  the  average 
Englishman.  The  Scottish  lowland  dialect  is 
only  old  English,  that  is,  modified  Dutch,  uninflu¬ 
enced  by  Norman  elements.  To  this  day  many 
Scottish  cattle  dealers,  uneducated  men,  linguists 
though  they  are  not,  can  deal  in  the  Frisian  mar¬ 
kets  without  an  interpreter,  with  men  “  whose 
talk  is  of  cattle.” 

On  both  island  and  continent  the  three  classes 
of  people  among  the  Saxo-Frisians  were  nobles, 
freemen,  and  serfs.  The  one  lived  in  his  castle, 
the  other  in  his  home,  the  third  in  his  master’s 
huts.  All  these  terms,  “  castle,”  “  home,”  and 
“  hut,”  like  many  of  the  words  we  love  most  to 
speak,  were  Dutch  before  they  were  English.  In 
England  the  word  “  home  ”  became  ham  when 
united  to  a  name,  as  in  Nottingham.  In  Neder¬ 
land  we  find  the  forms  heim,  hem,  um ,  as  in 
Windesheim,  Zelhem,  Ulrum.  Our  idea  of  home  is 
best  found  in  Teutonic  Europe,  and  the  two  coun¬ 
tries  especially  renowned  for  their  homes  —  as 
we  use  the  word  —  are  England  and  Holland. 
These  two  also  are  the  successful  colonizing  na¬ 
tions,  and  mothers  of  republics.  The  country 
Yankee’s  idioms,  as  in  the  question,  “  How  are 
the  folks  to  hum  ?  ”  are  but  survivals  of  ancient 
Dutch.  Many  New  England  family  names  are 
pure  Dutch. 

In  New  England  the  town  and  the  common  are 


WHAT  HAS  COME  FROM  THE  FRISIANS.  47 

historic  features.  The  Pilgrims  and  Puritans 
were  more  English  than  the  Englanders  left  be* 
hind,  and  also  more  Germanic.  Landing  on  the 
continent,  first  called  “America”  by  the  Ger¬ 
man  Waldseemiiller,  they  reverted  to  primitive 
Teutonic  life.  Their  units  of  government  were 
the  town  and  the  common  land. 

What  was  the  original  town  ?  In  Dutch  the 
word  turn  now  means  a  garden,  and  has  thus  kept 
more  closely  to  the  ancient  meaning  than  the 
English  town  or  ton.  Of  old  the  tuin  meant,  and 
was,  the  hedge  or  fence  on  the  earthen  wall  sur¬ 
rounding  the  settlement  of  homes  within.  Usually 
there  was  a  ditch  at  the  base  of  the  earthen  em¬ 
bankment,  which  was  pierced  with  gates  for  en¬ 
trance. 

The  “  common,”  or  common  land,  including 
forest  for  the  material  of  bow,  spear,  hoe,  and 
fuel,  as  well  as  for  pasture  and  play-ground,  was 
outside  the  tuin.  In  Friesland  one  can  still  occa¬ 
sionally  trace  out,  on  the  heath  or  in  the  woods 
where  no  people  now  live,  the  round  lines  of  an¬ 
cient  tuins  or  towns.  Even  yet,  in  certain  places, 
the  common  forest  and  pasture  land  is  held. 
Many  villagers  still  pay  their  taxes,  or  otherwise 
raise  revenue  from  their  shares  in  the  common 
land,  dig  turf  from  the  common  veld ,  or  field,  or 
drive  to  and  bring  back  daily  their  fat  black  and 
white  cattle  of  the  Holstein-Frisian  breed. 

Here,  in  northern  Nederland,  is  the  ancestral 


48  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 

seat  of  the  home,  the  town,  the  common,  the  Eng¬ 
lish  folk  and  speech.  The  early  New  England 
settlements  and  the  Dutch  villages  along  the 
Hudson  and  Mohawk  rivers,  outside  of  the  Pa- 
troon’s  estates,  were  begun  in  the  old  Frisian  way. 
There  were  the  common  lands,  the  palisades,  with 
the  earth  hank  and  ditch,  the  cattle  and  swine 
led  out  daily  to  pasture.  These  were  only  the 
things  Germanic  reappearing  again,  as  naturally 
as  the  Roman  nose,  the  Hapsburg  jaw,  or  the  an¬ 
cestral  color  of  eye  or  hair  reappears  in  descend¬ 
ants. 

It  was  in  this  period,  from  the  sixth  to  the 
ninth  century,  that  those  events  took  place  which 
Dutch  national  art  and  literature  love  to  repre¬ 
sent.  In  charming  story,  drama,  and  fairy  tale, 
striking  picture,  and  statue,  the  old  life  of  our 
fathers  is  transfigured.  In  the  perspective  of  the 
imagination  this  period  is  as  a  gorgeous  sunset, 
in  which  artist  and  romancer  delight  to  revel. 

The  historian  also  enjoys  the  dumb,  fossil  wit¬ 
nesses  to  the  manners,  customs,  and  faith  of  his 
ancestors.  He  reconstructs  the  story  of  their  life, 
with  its  joys  and  woes,  ambitions  and  hates,  hopes 
and  fears.  At  Dokkum  the  traveler  looks  on  the 
scene  of  the  martyrdom  of  Boniface.  Near  Alk- 
maar  he  tastes  the  brackish  water  from  Saint 
Wilbrord’s  put ,  or  well.  Though  enjoying  the 
liquid  less  than  those  to  whom  it  was  fresh  and 
sweet  when  they  quenched  their  thirst  a  thousand 


WHAT  HAS  COME  FROM  THE  FRISIANS.  49 

years  ago,  he  learns  what  useful  men  and  true 
civilizers,  as  well  as  clerics,  those  old  missionaries 
were.  The  names  of  the  vanquished  gods  are 
embalmed  in  the  names  of  the  villages.  The  pale 
reflection  of  the  old  pagan  world  is  detected  in 
the  folk-lore  and  idioms.  In  Ulrum  was  the  w, 
or  home  of  the  ice-god.  In  Stavoren,  on  one  side 
of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  is  reechoed  the  name  of  Sta- 
vor,  the  local  god.  At  Medemblik  we  hear  the 
legend  which  tells  of  the  origin  of  the  helmet  of 
gold  and  lace  which  still  encases  the  cranium  of 
wife  and  maid  in  Friesland.  Originally,  says 
the  .story,  it  signified  the  history  of  the  cross 
and  the  adoption  of  Christianity  by  the  wearer. 
Is  it  the  glorified  crown  of  thorns  ? 

When,  however,  we  come  to  the  dear  old  story 
of  Radbod,  king  of  the  Frisians,  and  his  post¬ 
poned  immersion,  we  are  at  sea.  .  He  is  said  to 
have  drawn  out  his  royal  leg  from  the  baptismal 
font  when  told  by  the  bishop  that  his  ancestors 
were  all  in  hell.  His  answer  was,  “  Then  I  ’ll  go 
there  too.”  We  find  the  legend  located  in  nearly 
as  many  places  as  Homer  is  alleged  to  have  been 
born.  This  incident  is  a  great  favorite  with  ar¬ 
tists  and  wood-engravers. 

Popular  customs  and  pleasing  fashions  are  as 
old  as  religion,  and  older  than  any  one  religion 
which  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Teutons 
have  adopted.  In  our  Christian  homes  and 
churches  we  still  enjoy  ourselves  much  as  our 


50 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND , 


Dutch  ancestors  did  ages  ago.  Despite  the 
Friends  who  protest,  we  call  the  days  of  the  week 
after  the  ancient  gods.  We  “nominate  in  our 
bond,”  Monday  the  day  of  the  moon,  Tuesday 
the  day  of  the  sword-god  Twi  or  Teu,  Wednes¬ 
day,  like  many  towns  in  England  and  America, 
takes  its  name  from  Woden,  the  king  of  all  gods, 
on  whose  shoulders  sit  the  ravens  of  Observation 
and  Memory.  The  name  of  Thor,  the  hammer- 
god,  maker  of  the  world,  is  embalmed  in  Thurs¬ 
day.  Lovely  Fri,  or  Freya,  the  bright  goddess 
of  springtime,  warmth,  and  fruitfulness,  has  her 
memento  in  Friday.  Saturn  in  Saturday,  and 
the  Sun  in  Sunday,  complete  the  space  of  time 
measured  by  a  moon- space,  or  month. 

Oestre,  the  goddess  whom  the  Saxons  loved, 
had  her  joyful  spring  festival,  which  the  mission¬ 
aries  were  not  able  to  abolish,  but  only  to  change 
to  Paasch,  Paschal  feast,  or  Easter.  In  the 
Paasch-fires  which  Frisian  boys  still  kindle,  when 
the  rubbish  and  useless  stuff  accumulated  during 
the  year  is  burned  up,  we  see  a  healthy  custom  as 
old  as  the  town  or  common,  and  popular  long 
before  Christianity.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  wheel-cakes  or  cookies  indicating  the  course 
of  the  year.  In  the  honor  of  Oestre,  also,  eggs 
were  dyed  in  many  colors  and  then  eaten.  Our 
Easter  eggs,  tinted  with  aniline  at  the  anniversary 
of  Christ’s  resurrection,  are  in  principle  the  same 
as  those  which  long  ago,  in  forest,  hut,  and  helm , 


WHAT  HAS  COME  FROM  THE  FRISIANS.  51 


were  colored  with  vegetable  dyes.  The  Yule 
( juul  or  wheel)  feast,  lasting  from  December  25th 
to  J anuary  6th  was  not  abolished  ;  it  was  merged 
into  Christmas,  and  forgotten  in  the  story  of  the 
Bethlehem  babe.  The  herfst-rit ,  or  late  autumn- 
ride  of  the  god  Woden  on  the  horse  Sleipnir,  be¬ 
came  the  ride  of  Santa  Claus  on  his  deer-drawn 
sled.  The  great  festival  for  boys  and  girls  in  the 
land  of  dykes  falls  on  December  5th.  This  is 
the  day  of  Saint  Nicholas,  or  as  the  Dutch  say 
Sint  Niklaas,  which  in  New  Netherland  became 
Santa  Claus.  We  still  walk  in  the  footsteps  of 
our  pagan  ancestors,  but  as  men,  not  as  pagans, 
when  we  bake  Jcerst-koeJcen  or  Christmas  cake,  or 
dance  around  the  maypole,  or  crown  the  Queen 
of  May. 

In  a  word,  all  that  was  best,  as  well  as  some 
things  that  were  not  so  good,  were  absorbed  by 
Christianity  when  the  northern  men  of  the  forest, 
fen,  and  shore  were  wholly  or  partially  converted. 
It  was  a  good  thing  when  the  Nederlanders  were 
brought  to  believe  in  the  doctrines  and  to  obey 
the  discipline  of  the  church.  It  was  far  better 
when  they  understood  what  were  sometimes  quite 
different,  the  spirit  and  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


KAREL  DE  GROOTE. 

While  the  Byzantine  or  Eastern  empire  flour¬ 
ished,  with  Constantinople  as  its  centre,  and 
Greek  as  the  official  language,  order  was  kept 
among  the  nations  of  western  Europe  by  Charle¬ 
magne.  This  restorer  of  the  Roman  empire  was 
so  named  among  the  Franks,  but  in  Nederland  he 
was  called  Karel  de  Groote.  In  English  he  is 
known  as  Charles  the  Great.  He  was  the  son  of 
Pepin  the  Short,  the  grandson  of  Charles  Martel, 
and  the  dynasty  to  which  he  belonged  is  known  in 
history  as  the  Carlo vingian. 

When  the  Roman  empire  broke  up  into  the 
fragments  which  afterwards  became  the  states  of 
modern  Europe,  the  title  of  Caesar  also  suffered 
change.  As  Latin  ceased  to  be  spoken  and  be¬ 
came  a  dead  language,  the  modern  languages 
grew  into  form.  They  may  be  grouped  into  the 
three  families,  Romance,  Germanic,  and  Slavic. 
In  the  southern  countries  the  title  of  the  emperor 
was  pronounced  with  a  soft  c  or  s  sound  ;  in  north¬ 
ern  Europe  with  a  hard  or  Jc  sound ;  in  Russia 
with  emphasis  on  the  last  syllable.  Whether 
Caesar,  Keizer  or  Tsar,  Karel  was  known  all  over 


KABEL  BE  GBOOTE. 


53 


Europe,  after  his  coronation  as  emperor  in  St. 
Peter’s  church  in  Rome  on  Christmas  Day,  in  the 
year  800.  He  was  then  fifty-eight  years  old. 

Most  of  Karel’s  life  was  spent  in  war.  He 
pounded  the  Saxons  as  his  grandfather  Charles 
the  Hammer  had  beaten  flat  the  Saracens.  Sev¬ 
enteen  out  of  thirty-five  of  his  campaigns  were 
against  the  Saxons  or  Frisians,  and  other  Ger¬ 
manic  tribes  that  made  common  cause  with  these 
yellow-haired  and  long-knived  warriors.  As  con¬ 
queror,  he  compelled  them  to  be  baptized  and 
accept  Christianity.  Driven  into  the  rivers  at  the 
point  of  the  spear,  they  agreed  to  renounce  their 
paganism  and  hostility. 

Keizer  Karel  was  not  only  a  mighty  warrior, 
but  also  a  great  civilizer.  He  established  churches, 
schools,  and  monasteries  throughout  his  empire. 
Alcuin,  the  most  learned  man  of  his  age,  was  his 
superintendent  of  education.  Most  of  the  old 
schools  in  France  owe  their  existence  to  Alcuin, 
as  well  as  several  of  those  in  Nederland. 

Though  Karel  had  many  palaces  in  various 
parts  of  his  realm,  his  favorite  residence  was  at 
Nymegen.  Here,  on  the  splendid  plateau  over¬ 
looking  the  Waal  River,  and  on  the  site  of  the 
old  Roman  castle,  he  built  the  Valkhof.  Some 
scanty  ruins  of  this  imperial  residence  still  re¬ 
main.  They  once  formed  part  of  the  choir  of  the 
palace  church.  The  tourist  who  rambles  through 
the  public  park  in  Nymegen,  one  of  the  few  Dutch 


54 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


towns  which  require  the  visitor  to  climb  a  hill,  can 
still  see  these  and  the  landscape  as  of  yore.  Here 
great  Charles  loved  to  rest  after  his  wars  and 
administer  the  affairs  of  his  vast  empire,  which 
extended  from  the  Elbe  and  Eider  rivers  in  the 
north,  to  the  Tiber  and  Ebro  in  the  south  of 
Europe.  Gathering  judges,  poets,  scholars,  and 
singers  around  him,  he  enjoyed  his  home  during 
the  winters,  for  in  the  summer  he  put  on  the  hel¬ 
met  and  took  the  field.  For  beauty  of  scenery  he 
could  hardly  have  chosen  a  lovelier  spot.  The 
prospect  embraces  fertile  fields,  rich  pastures, 
azure  hills,  the  old  home  of  the  Batavians,  the 
Waal,  Rhine,  Maas  and  Yssel  rivers,  the  fields  of 
Brabant  and  the  scene  of  the  legend  of  the  Knight 
of  the  Swan  celebrated  in  Lohengrin. 

No  other  city  excels  Nymegen  in  its  richness 
of  memories  of  the  great  Frank.  The  curfew  or 
old  couvre-feu ,  or  fire-bell,  which  nightly  rings  at 
8.30  p.  M.  is  called  Keizer  Karel’s  Klok,  or 
clock,  —  for  a  clock  was  a  bell  before  it  was  a 
measurer  of  time.  The  finest  square  in  the  new 
quarter  of  the  city  is  named  Keizer  Karel’s  Plein, 
or  plain.  The  sixteen-sided  Gothic  baptistery, 
consecrated  by  Pope  Leo  III.  in  799  and  rebuilt 
in  the  twelfth  century,  is  still  carefully  preserved. 
In  the  city  museum,  one  of  the  best  in  Nederland, 
are  many  other  reminders  of  the  great  man  who 
“  came  an  age  too  soon.”  Here  are  the  eloquent 
relics  both  of  the  Romans  and  of  the  mediaeval 


KAREL  DE  GROOTE. 


55 


restorer  of  the  Roman  empire.  How  they  touch 
the  imagination  and  make  the  dead  world  live 
again !  He  who  sees  them  becomes  a  Methuselah 
“  without  wrinkles  or  gray  hairs.”  The  centuries 
move  before  him  in  panorama. 

Under  Karel  de  Groote,  the  northern  and  the 
southern  Netherlands  were  again  united  under  one 
crown.  They  remained  so  for  nearly  eight  centu¬ 
ries.  From  the  year  T85,  when  the  Frisians  were 
fully  subjugated,  along  with  the  Saxons,  they 
were  more  or  less  tributary  to  foreign  rulers. 
These  included  Frankish,  Burgundian,  Austrian, 
nr  Spanish  monarchs,  until  the  rise  of  the  Dutch 
republic ;  then  they  cast  them  off  and  became 
their  own  masters. 

Yet  the  men  of  our  old  fatherland  remained 
“free  Frisians,”  for  they  retained  their  own  soil 
as  their  own  property,  and  were  governed  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  own  laws.  Even  the  rulers  sent  by 
Karel  de  Groote  and  his  successors  to  rule  over 
Nederland  were  obliged  to  obey  these  Frisian 
laws.  The  general  nature  of  these  laws  we  know, 
but  not  their  details ;  for  the  collection  or  code 
known  as  the  Asega  book  is  the  work  of  four  cen¬ 
turies  later.  Nevertheless,  it  is  noteworthy  that 
while  the  feudal  system  became  so  deeply  rooted 
in  some  parts  of  the  empire  that  relics  and  traces 
are  even  to-day  quite  manifest,  in  Frisia  feudalism 
never  took  root.  In  other  parts  of  Europe  the 
’emperor  or  king  could  give  land  to  any  one  he 


56 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


pleased,  or  take  it  away  when  he  would.  In  Frisia 
the  land  belonged  to  the  people,  and  could  not  be 
made  into  benefices  or  feuds,  or  given  to  imperial 
favorites,  whether  priests  or  soldiers.  One  part 
of  the  empire  remained  as  of  old  democratic,  and 
that  part  was  Friesland. 

The  emperors  who  succeeded  Karel  de  Groote 
formed  the  Carlovingian  dynasty,  as  they  are 
known  in  history.  Louis  I.,  or  the  Debonair, 
feebly  followed  up  his  father’s  work  in  schools 
and  education,  but  those  who  came  after  him  could 
not  carry  out  the  plans  of  their  great  ancestor. 
That  part  of  their  empire  north  of  the  Maas  River 
was  named  Austrie,  or  the  Eastland,  a  word  which 
is  also  found  in  the  name  Austerfield,  in  England, 
where  Bradford  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  born. 
The  region  south  of  the  Scheldt  was  called  Neus- 
tria.  Much  war  and  strife  followed  the  death  of 
the  great  Charles,  and  his  empire  gradually  fell 
to  pieces.  We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  names  or 
deeds  of  the  figure-heads  who  sat  on  thrones,  but 
we  shall  look  at  the  people,  and  the  conditions  of 
trade,  social  life,  and  religion  during  this  epoch 
from  the  eighth  to  the  eleventh  century. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  INCURSIONS  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 

In  our  day,  Yon  Moltke  used  to  say  that  “Ge¬ 
ography  is  half  of  war,”  and  we  may  add,  of  com¬ 
merce  also.  A  great  seaport,  a  city  at  the  head 
of  river  or  lake  navigation,  a  site  at  which  natural 
paths  converge,  is  sure  to  thrive  while  the  people 
are  there  with  their  wants.  Even  when  destroyed 
by  earthquake,  flood,  fire,  or  war,  a  centre  of  trade 
will  be  rebuilt  and  thrive  again.  Unless  new 
routes  be  opened  for  the  ships  of  the  desert  or 
wagons  of  the  sea,  caravans  or  fleets,  the  old  lines 
of  traffic  and  the  old  market-places  will  remain. 

'  So  in  Nederland.  From  the  first,  Utrecht  was 
the  middle  point  of  traffic.  Here  came  the  but¬ 
ter,  cheese,  honey,  wheat,  rye,  wool,  and  hemp. 
There  were  busy  markets  and  great  sales.  Eng¬ 
land,  noted  for  her  sheep,  sent  their  fleeces.  Down 
the  Rhine  came  the  riches  of  Germany,  and  near 
at  hand  lay  the  products  of  the  Belgic  Nether¬ 
lands  and  of  France.  Dutch  cities,  sharing  in  the 
prosperity  which  came  in  peace  and  from  settled 
society,  were  Maastricht,  Dorestad,  Deventer,  and 
Stavoren.  Other  places  which  were  once  flour¬ 
ishing  seaports  are  now  obscure  villages,  dried  up 


58 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


ports,  or  dead  cities.  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam 
were  as  yet  unheard  of.  The  Hague  had  not 
even  become ’s  Gravenhaag,  or  the  Count’s  Hedge, 
as  later  on.  In  these  early  Middle  Ages,  despite 
many  wars,  there  was  a  rich  bloom  of  farms  and 
cities  and  trade  by  land  and  water  that  made 
Nederland  flourish  like  a  garden.  It  was  also, 
alas,  a  source  of  temptation  to  the  hardy  robbers 
of  the  north.  In  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway 
each  of  the  Ten  Commandments  is  now  well 
known  and  kept.  By  the  Norsemen  the  eighth 
commandment,  in  reference  to  their  southern 
neighbors,  was  unknown. 

In  the  history  of  Europe  and  Asia  we  find 
that  the  rich  and  fertile  south  tempts  marauders 
out  of  the  cold  north.  This  is  especially  true 
when  there  is  a  larger  northern  population  than 
can  find  food  at  home.  Again  and  again  the  Hun, 
Tartar,  Turk,  Mongol  has  rushed  down  to  ravage 
and  possess  the  warmer  and  richer  countries,  China 
and  India.  In  Europe  the  Teutonic  barbarians 
rolled  southward  in  waves  that  destroyed  the 
Roman  empire. 

So,  likewise,  upon  the  fat  lands  of  Europe,  after 
the  death  of  Karel,  fell  the  sea-rovers  and  mur¬ 
derous  robbers  called  the  Normans,  Northmen,  or 
Norsemen.  From  Constantinople  to  Iceland  and 
Massachusetts,  and  into  all  the  rivers  and  bays 
of  western  Europe,  these  hardy  Scandinavians 
were  seen  or  heard  of.  In  Nederland,  these  ad 


THE  INCURSIONS  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  59 


venturous  pirates  rowed  their  ^rar  craft  far  up 
into  the  rivers  to  fire  and  kill.  Even  towns  far 
inland,  like  Tiel,  Vianen,  Deventer,  Utrecht,  and 
Nymegen,  were  attacked. 

In  the  morning,  happy  people  would  look  with 
delight  upon  their  gardens  and  farms,  houses  and 
barns.  They  would  meet  for  business  in  villages 
and  markets,  or  gather  in  churches  to  sing  and 
pray.  In  the  evening,  the  scene  might  change. 
The  moon  often  shone  upon  level  and  smoking 
wastes  of  ashes  and  corpses.  No  red  Iroquois  or 
Apaches  of  our  colonial  or  boyhood’s  days  were 
more  savage  and  brutal  than  these  very  Norse¬ 
men,  whose  blood  and  names  so  many  of  the 
Americans  inherit.  Some  of  the  best  of  us,  the 
Herricks,  Farraguts,  etc.,  are  descended  from 
these  pirates.  For  two  centuries  the  common 
prayer  in  the  litanies  of  the  Christian  churches 
was,  “  From  the  fury  of  the  Normans,  good  Lord 
deliver  us.” 

These  “vikings,”  or  sons  of  the  creeks  and 
coves,  were  men  of  powerful  build,  and  capable  of 
long  endurance  of  hunger  and  fatigue.  Mounting 
their  long  galleys  made  of  toughest  wood,  they 
set  their  single  sail  to  the  one  mast,  or  rowed 
steadily  to  the  south.  Their  rudders  were  long 
blades  of  wood  set  in  a  pole  handle,  not  in  the 
centre  of  the  stern,  but  on  the  right  side  of  the 
vessel,  which  was  therefore  called  the  steer-board, 
or,  as  we  now  say,  the  starboard.  When  the  sail 


60 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


was  taken  down  it  was  stowed  away  on  the  “  port  ” 
side,  making  a  load.  Gradually,  it  is  believed, 
this  “  load-board  ”  was  pronounced  larboard. 

The  rowers  sat  along  the  sides,  their  heavy 
shields  being  hung  on  the  outside.  At  the  right 
moment  they  gathered  on  the  fore-deck  for  battle, 
or  leaped  ashore,  sword  in  hand.  With  slight 
provision  for  food  and  fresh  water,  with  no  com. 
pass  or  chart,  they  drove  their  prows  out  into  fog 
or  storm.  Like  Noah,  who  sent  out  the  raven  to 
find  land,  their  pilot  was  a  bird  of  the  same  spe¬ 
cies.  In  the  loneliness  of  the  watery  world,  they 
carried  one  of  these  path-finders.  The  raven, 
sacred  to  their  god  Woden,  perched  upon  the  top 
of  the  dragon  prow.  When  tossing  on  the  waves, 
at  a  loss  to  know  where  they  were,  or  when  the 
“  shipmen  deemed  that  they  drew  nigh  to  some 
country,”  they  set  the  raven  free.  If  the  bird 
flying  off  returned  soon  again,  they  knew  that  no 
land  was  near.  If  the  raven  did  not  come  back, 
they  drove  forward  in  the  direction  of  its  flight. 
Then  they  landed  or  coasted  along  until  their  prey 
was  in  sight.  Chanting  a  loud  song  to  Woden, 
they  plied  the  sword  until  resistance  was  over. 
After  gathering  their  booty,  loading  what  they 
wanted  on  their  ships,  they  began  with  the  torch 
and  left  all  in  ashes.  The  Norsemen  did  not 
dread  death  in  battle,  for  they  believed  that  each 
warrior  as  he  fell  went  at  once  to  Walhalla,  the 
heaven  in  which  Woden  and  the  gods  welcomed 


THE  INCURSIONS  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  61 

him.  Whenever  we  shout  “  huzza,”  or  “  hurrah,” 
we  are  but  echoing  the  warcry  of  our  Norse  an¬ 
cestors,  which  on  their  lips  meant  “  To  Para¬ 
dise  !  ” 

From  single  ships  or  small  parties,  these  raids 
of  the  Scandinavians  grew  to  great  expeditions, 
sometimes  numbering  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
men.  The  Danes  were  the  most  active  in  plunder¬ 
ing  Frisia  and  southern  Netherland.  In  England 
a  Norse  pirate  who  was  caught  robbing  or  defiling 
a  Christian  church  was  flayed  alive  and  his  hide 
nailed  to  the  church  door.  Several  pieces  of 
human  skin  now  in  the  British  Museum  have 
been  obtained  from  under  big-headed  nails,  when 
mediaeval  doors  were  replaced  by  modern  oak. 
In  Frisia,  the  pagan  Northman  when  found  at 
the  same  work  was  taken  to  the  damp  sea-sand 
and  beheaded.  The  old  Nederlander  had  a  hor¬ 
ror  of  wetting  dry  earth  with  blood  shed  other¬ 
wise  than  in  the  heat  of  battle. 

For  three  centuries  the  Northmen  were  the 
terror  of  Europe,  but  finally  the  raids  ceased. 
For  this  there  were  many  causes.  Christianity 
entered  and  taught  the  Scandinavians  a  better 
ideal  of  life  than  the  pagan.  Agriculture  and 
fisheries  took  away  the  need  of  seeking  food 
farther  south.  The  sea-kings  and  chiefs  became 
tyrannical  as  they  grew  rich  and  powerful,  and 
thousands  of  their  followers  and  serfs  emigrated 
and  settled  down  peaceably  to  till  the  soil  in 


62 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Great  Britain,  France,  and  Nederland.  There 
are  many  telltale  names  on  the  British  islands, 
and  in  the  Netherlands  and  other  parts  of  the 
mainland  of  Europe.  Where  lived  the  Nor¬ 
mans  under  William  the  Conqueror  and  their 
descendants,  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  of 
later  day,  the  Dutch,  Scotch,  and  Irish  of  famous 
family,  there  are  place  and  family  names  which 
reveal  the  gratifying  fact  that  the  children  of 
Scandinavian  pirates  have  become  Christians, 
gentlemen,  nobles. 

For  the  defense  of  Nederland,  the  spread  of 
Christianity  among  the  Danes  was  the  best  of 
all  forces.  Many  a  time,  indeed,  the  armed  vigi¬ 
lance  of  the  government  and  people  gave  the 
pirates  a  warm  reception  and  drove  them  off. 
When,  however,  the  Norsemen  came  as  settlers 
in  Dorestad,  Kennemerland,  and  Walcheren,  they 
were  still  savage  and  very  turbulent.  In  A.  D. 
826  three  brothers  out  of  the  land  of  the  Danes, 
Heriold,  Poruk,  and  Hemming  were  baptized. 
Their  powerful  influence  helped  the  Christian 
rulers  of  Nederland  to  rule  the  immigrant  people 
from  the  north.  Although  a  few  more  plunder¬ 
ings  and  firing  of  towns,  like  that  of  Tiel  and 
Utrecht  in  the  year  1002,  took  place,  yet  the 
incursions  had  practically  ceased  when  Christian¬ 
ity’s  millennial  year  dawned.  It  was  no  longer 
necessary  for  Christians  by  the  Maas  and  Yssel 
to  take  off  human  hides  or  heads  by  way  of 


THE  INCURSIONS  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  63 

warning  to  northern  marauders.  Educated  in 
the  gentler  truths  of  Jesus,  tamed,  washed,  pol¬ 
ished  by  centuries  of  Christian  civilization,  the 
children  of  these  once  brutal  warriors  are  now 
the  nobles  and  citizens  of  Europe  and  the  free¬ 
men  of  America. 

The  episode  of  the  Norman  invasions  is  very 
important  to  one  who  studies  history,  for  it 
helped  to  bring  about  the  feudal  system,  at 
which  we  shall  now  glance. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM. 

What  is  feudalism  ?  Feudalism  is  a  state  of 
society  in  which  the  land  is  not  free  to  be  claimed 
by  settlers,  or  to  be  bought  and  sold,  but  is  divided 
up  into  feuds  or  fiefs.  One  who  holds  a  fief  can¬ 
not  sell,  transfer,  or  mortgage  it,  because  he  holds 
it  of  a  superior  or  lord.  When  he  dies,  he  can¬ 
not  will  it  to  his  children,  for  the  land  then  re¬ 
verts  to  the  superior  lord,  or,  if  continued  to  the 
dead  man’s  son,  it  must  be  by  the  grace  or  will 
of  the  superior. 

In  the  United  States,  and  in  most  European 
countries  at  present,  land  is  held  in  “  fee  simple,” 
it  is  “  allodial.”  An  allodium,  as  “  Blackstone’s 
Commentaries  ”  say,  is  “  every  man’s  own  land 
which  he  possesses  merely  in  his  own  right  with¬ 
out  owing  any  rent  or  service  to  a  superior.” 

Among  the  early  Germanic  tribes,  land  was 
held  in  common.  A  certain  number  of  families 
gathered  together  in  a  tuin  or  town,  formed  what 
in  Frisian  was  called  a  “  mark,”  or  in  Dutch 
“  gemeente,”  that  is,  a  community  or  congrega¬ 
tion.  The  land  belonged  to  the  people,  and  was 
divided  up  according  to  need  and  numbers. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  65 

There  was  the  mark  of  arable  or  ploughed  land, 
the  mark  of  pasture,  and  the  home-mark  or  vil¬ 
lage.  The  acres  or  fields  and  pastures  were  usu¬ 
ally  outside  of  the  tuin,  but  sometimes  each 
farmer  dwelt  in  his  own  farmhouse  on  his  own 
farm  or  landhold. 

When,  however,  a  country  was  conquered  and 
brought  under  the  dominion  of  one  ruler,  as  for 
example  the  Netherlands,  by  Karel  de  Groote, 
all  the  land  in  theory  (except  Frisia)  belonged 
to  the  conqueror.  The  emperor  had  power  to 
divide  up  the  country  and  vest  the  ownership  of 
the  soil,  not  in  the  mark  or  democracy,  but  in 
many  lords  or  masters  of  whom  the  emperor  was 
the  over-lord.  He  gave  the  parcels  of  land  to 
his  various  nobles,  dukes,  counts,  barons,  etc.,  on 
condition  that  they  should  render  him  service. 

This  service  in  time  of  peace  consisted  of 
money  or  produce  of  the  soil,  but  in  war-time  of 
so  many  soldiers,  both  horse  and  foot  men.  In 
this,  the  way  of  feudalism,  the  land  is  taken 
?vway  from  the  people  who  till  it  and  becomes  the 
property  of  men  who  are  called  lords.  Even  our 
familiar  term  “  landlord,”  as  well  as  the  custom 
of  raising  or  taking  off  the  hat  in  polite  saluta¬ 
tion,  are,  like  a  hundred  other  things  whose  ori¬ 
gin  is  unnoticed,  survivals  of  feudalism.  What 
were  once  the  privileges  or  rights  of  lords  or 
noblemen  have  now  become  the  common  property 
of  all,  at  least  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


66 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


The  greater  part  of  the  civilized  or  semi-civil¬ 
ized  earth  has  been  at  some  time  or  other  feudal¬ 
ized.  In  China  and  the  Malayan  part  of  Asia, 
in  Africa  and  early  America,  and  even  among 
the  Iroquois  Indians,  either  perfect  or  rudimen¬ 
tary  feudal  systems  have  existed.  This  sort  of 
political  organization  seems  almost  a  necessary 
stage  in  the  history  of  every  nation  living  a 
settled  life.  Nomads  never  have  a  feudal  sys¬ 
tem.  The  writer  lived  under  the  feudalism  of 
Japan,  where  every  foot  of  occupied  land  was 
part  of  a  fief,  and  saw  its  workings,  during  its 
last  year  of  existence,  1870. 

The  duke  or  count,  or  in  Dutch  hertog  or  graaf , 
divides  up  his  fief  of  land  and  sub-lets  it  to  smaller 
nobles  or  gentlemen.  These  may  again  sub-let 
parcels  to  smaller  tenants  or  farmers  to  work  it 
with  their  slaves  or  serfs.  The  land  is  thus  rented 
on  condition  of  personal  service  instead  of  a  pay¬ 
ment  in  money.  The  tie  is  loyalty.  In  the  feudal 
system,  patriotism,  or  love  of  country,  is  scarcely 
known.  Loyalty  or  personal  attachment  is  the 
chief  sentiment.  The  noble  or  gentleman  must 
follow  his  master.  Each  knight  must  furnish 
horse,  sword,  mace,  battle-axe,  and  armor.  Each 
man-at-arms  supplies  spear,  shield,  twelve  arrows, 
and  a  cuirass.  For  the  use  of  the  land,  each 
holder  of  a  fief  joins  the  standard  of  his  over-lord 
with  horses,  equipment,  provisions,  servants.  The 
serfs  or  slaves  are  left  at  home  to  till  the  soil. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM. 


67 


In  such  a  state  of  society,  there  will  he  many 
grades  of  landlords,  and  many  varieties  of  tenants. 
Besides  the  serfs  or  slaves  who  wear  their  mas¬ 
ter’s  collar  or  badge,  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
are  tied  or  bound  to  the  soil.  They  usually  live 
and  die  on  the  same  acre,  and  are  not  very  much 
better  than  the  regular  slaves.  The  individual 
constantly  decreases  in  importance,  while  the  land¬ 
lord  increases  both  in  influence  and  power.  Those 
who  hold  land  are  persons  of  importance.  Others 
are  as  nothing. 

Yet,  as  we  have  said,  feudalism  seems  almost  a 
necessary  stage  in  the  history  of  nations  which 
have  a  settled  life  based  on  agriculture.  Only 
the  nations  that  are  fishers,  hunters,  and  nomad 
shepherds  escape  feudalism,  and  not  even  these 
always  and  wholly.  There  is  ever  a  rivalry, 
usually  ending  in  strife,  between  the  hunter  and 
the  farmer,  the  rover  and  the  man  of  settled  busi¬ 
ness,  and  it  is  as  old  as  human  society.  It  is 
seen  in  the  quarrels  between  Cain  and  Abel,  and 
Jacob  and  Esau.  China’s  feudal  system  came  to 
an  end  when  the  able  emperor  built  that  wall 
which,  for  two  thousand  years,  has  dratvn  a  line 
of  brick  between  the  nomads  of  Mongolia  and 
the  settled  farmers  of  China. 

Under  the  Frankish  rule,  by  using  various  pre¬ 
texts,  such  as  guarding  against  the  Norsemen,  the 
empire  was  divided  up  into  many  sections  called 
gouw ,  over  which  was  a  graaf  or  count.  Over 


68 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


several  of  these  gouws  and  graafs  was  placed  a 
hertog  or  duke,  the  word  “  hertog  ”  meaning  an 
army  leader.  In  Nederland  there  were  eighteen 
or  more  of  these  gouws  or  districts.  Some  of  the 
old  names  are  still  in  use,  such  as  Kennemerland, 
Betuwe,  Yeluwe,  Drenthe,  etc. 

After  these  beginnings  of  feudalism,  the  process 
proceeded  first  rapidly,  then  fast  and  furiously, 
after  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  had  come  to  an 
end  in  925.  Then  Nederland  became  a  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  Lotharingia,  passing  out  of  Frank¬ 
ish  into  Germanic  rule,  but  still  connected  with 
the  great  empire.  The  last  king  of  the  line  of 
Karel  de  Groote  was  a  simpleton,  and  actually 
made  a  present  of  Holland  to  Dirck  I.,  Count 
of  Friesland,  and  afterwards  called  Count  of  Hol¬ 
land.  He  issued  letters  patent,  that  is  letters 
public,  to  confirm  the  gift.  Henceforth  Neder¬ 
land  belonged  in  theory  to  this  count  and  his  suc¬ 
cessors.  Dirck,  the  same  name  as  in  the  last 
syllables  of  Frederick  and  Theoderick,  was  the 
name  of  a  popular  saint  as  well  as  of  many  counts. 
It  is  still  one  of  the  most  common  names  in  Dutch 
families. 

Gradually  also  the  other  counts,  by  possessing 
local  power  and  making  themselves  practically  in¬ 
dependent  of  the  distant  emperor,  became  heredi¬ 
tary  possessors  of  their  fiefs.  Thus,  in  course  of 
time,  the  whole  country  became  a  patchwork  of 
feudalism.  A  mediaeval  map  of  Nederland,  ex* 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  69 

cept  Friesland  resembles  nothing  more  than  a 
“  crazy  quilt.” 

Nearly  the  same,  as  to  time  and  method,  the 
courses  of  history  ran  parallel  in  J apan  and 
Nederland.  The  little  feudal  states  that  arose 
were  Holland,  Zeeland,  Utrecht,  Overyssel,  Gro¬ 
ningen,  Drenthe,  and  Friesland,  but  there  were 
hundreds  of  minor  feuds  or  holdings  under 
these.  The  counts  of  Holland  and  the  bishops  of 
Utrecht  were  the  chief  rulers,  but  beneath  these 
were  underlings  holding  bits  of  land  differing 
in  size  and  value  and  clothed  with  shreds  of  au¬ 
thority. 

Feudalism  meant  that  all  the  land,  air,  and 
water,  with  the  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  and  minerals, 
belonged,  not  to  the  people,  but  to  the  lords  of 
the  soil.  If  a  man  wished  to  fish,  hunt,  shoot  a 
bird  in  the  air,  gather  sticks,  pluck  twig,  leaf,  or 
fruit  from  trees,  or  pick  up  anything  from  the 
ground,  he  must  first  get  permission  from  the 
lord  of  the  country  or  some  one  of  his  underlings. 
This  meant  that  the  weak  were  to  get  weaker, 
and  the  strong  stronger,  and  the  cunning  more 
cunning.  Noble  and  priest  usually  helped  each 
other ;  for  both  liked  power,  and  were  in  league 
against  the  untitled  and  the  unprivileged  folks. 
Cleric  and  soldier  alike  grew  rich  at  the  expense 
of  the  common  people,  who  sunk  by  thousands 
into  slavery.  Castle  and  monastery  grew  to  be 
fortresses  of  brick  and  stone,  while  townsmen  and 


70 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


country  folk  lived  under  wood  and  straw.  The 
chief  relations  of  life  were  lord  and  vassal,  master 
and  slave.  Every  laborer,  mechanic,  and  farmer 
must,  for  safety’s  sake,  put  himself  under  the 
protection  of  some  castle  lord.  The  village  could 
find  defense  only  under  shelter  of  the  fortified 
house  of  a  noble.  Under  such  a  political  system, 
there  must  be,  almost  as  a  matter  of  necessity, 
many  wars  between  rival  castle  lords.  Between 
bishops  who  were  pirates  and  barons  who  were 
burglars,  the  people  became  the  prey  of  both. 

Yet  feudalism  had  its  bright  side,  even  as  war 
has  its  splendor.  The  brilliant  procession  of 
knights  and  men-at-arms,  in  bright  uniforms  and 
with  waving  banners,  filing  out  of  the  castle 
gates  and  over  the  drawbridges,  delighted  the 
eyes  of  the  common  folk.  Hawking  and  falconry 
made  lively  sport  for  gay  lords  and  lovely  ladies 
outdoors.  In  the  field  of  public  amusements, 
thousands  went  out  on  holiday  to  see  the  wrestlers, 
boxers,  and  fencers,  to  laugh  at  the  jests  of  buf¬ 
foons,  or  to  shout  in  applause  of  the  archers.  In 
the  tournaments  the  knights,  clothed  in  shining 
steel,  gave  the  spectators  in  their  mock  combats 
all  the  excitement  of  war  with  only  a  little  of  its 
danger.  The  monastery  became  the  seat  of  learn¬ 
ing  and  the  school  for  those  who  were  to  be 
priests,  clerks,  or  scholars.  Often  the  monastic 
corporations  paid  for  the  building  or  repair  of 
the  dykes,  and  fed  the  people  during  famine. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM. 


71 


Holy  and  good  men  often  defended  the  honest 
poor  and  the  pure  women  from  the  cruelty  and 
lust  of  the  nobles.  The  nunneries  sheltered  the 
maiden  and  widow.  The  learned  monks  compiled 
annals  and  wrote  the  materials  for  history. 

In  the  castle  and  campaign,  heraldry  grew  up* 
Crests,  banners,  coats-of-arms,  were  unusually 
brilliant  and  varied  in  Nederland.  Perhaps  no 
other  country  is  so  rich  in  what  may  be  called  the 
graphic  symbols  of  church,  city,  and  family.  The 
lily  among  thorns  typified  the  pure  body  of  Christ 
amid  worldly  temptations  ;  crossed  keys  form  the 
town  arms  of  Leyden  under  patronage  of  St. 
Peter;  the  printer’s  type-case  of  later  days  tells 
of  ancestral  occupation.  In  medallic  history  and 
all  that  belongs  to  the  decorative  side  of  human 
life,  as  expressed  in  symbols,  no  people  excel  the 
Dutch.  Their  taste  and  skill  are  here  nobly 
manifest. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


HOLLAND  AND  THE  COUNTS. 

It  was  during  the  feudal  system  that  the  name 
Holland  came  into  vogue.  Whether  the  word  be 
contracted  from  hoi  (hollow)  land,  or  from  hout 
(wood)  land  is  uncertain. 

Look  on  the  map  and  note  where  the  two  riv¬ 
ers,  the  Maas  and  the  Waal,  the  former  rising 
in  France,  come  together  at  Gorcum.  They 
flow  as  one  stream  to  Dordrecht,  where  the  Maas, 
now  double-branched,  resumes  its  name.  This 
stretch  of  water,  called  the  Merwede,  is  one  of 
the  deepest  and  widest,  and  therefore  the  most 
important  in  all  Nederland.  It  commands  the 
Rhine  and  the  commerce  into  Germany.  It  is  no 
wonder,  then,  that  at  Gorcum  and  other  points 
the  river  banks  are  well  fortified.  It  is  here  that 
the  great  “  new  river,”  cut  from  Amsterdam  and 
finished  in  1892,  taps  the  Rhine.  The  Merwede 
is  Nederland’s  most  important  inland  water. 

To  the  region  of  land  along  the  Merwede  the 
name  of  Holland  was  given  in  1015  by  the  Count 
of  Friesland,  Dirck  III.  Of  these  counts,  ruling 
from  922  to  1299,  seven  were  named  Dirck,  and 
five  were  named  Floris. 


HOLLAND  AND  THE  COUNTS. 


73 


Like  the  typical  robber  baron  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and,  as  happens  in  feudalism  all  over  the 
world,  when  strong  armed  men  claim  the  possession 
of  God’s  gifts  of  air,  land,  and  water,  Dirck  III. 
took  advantage  of  his  position  to  fill  his  purse. 
He  levied  a  heavy  toll  on  all  ships  passing 
through  the  Merwede,  as  all  the  ships  must  pass 
to  go  to  or  from  Germany.  This  he  had  no 
right  to  do,  since  the  Rhine  was  one  of  the  water¬ 
ways  of  the  Germanic  empire.  In  1064,  or  ear¬ 
lier,  the  Count  of  Holland  built  a  tower,  or  thure , 
at  the  trecht ,  or  crossing,  at  the  east  end  of  the 
Merwede,  The  name  thurtrecht  or  the  tower- 
ferry,  was  in  time  shortened  to  what  it  is  now, 
Dordrecht.  Many  Dutchmen  condense  the  name 
still  further  and  call  it  Dort. 

As  the  count’s  power  increased,  the  name  Hol¬ 
land  was  given  to  the  region  and  seacoast  north 
and  east,  until  it  covered  the  whole  of  the  area 
included  in  the  two  modern  provinces  of  North 
Holland  and  South  Holland.  This  is  the  richest 
part  of  Nederland,  having  the  most  fertile  soil, 
largest  cities,  greatest  seaports,  widest  fame  in 
art,  literature,  and  all  that  goes  to  make  up  civ¬ 
ilization.  Later,  in  the  Dutch  Republic,  Holland 
paid  nearly  one  half  of  the  national  taxes,  the 
other  six  states  together  paying  but  a  little  over 
one  half.  Hence  Holland  has  been  so  important 
that  most  English-speaking  people,  when  they 
say  “  Holland,”  mean  the  whole  country  of  N& 
derland  with  its  eleven  provinces. 


74 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


The  Counts  of  Holland  had  their  favorite  resi¬ 
dence  first  at  Haarlem;  later,  at  a  delightful 
place  in  the  midst  of  the  great  forests,  and  only 
three  miles  from  the  sea,  they  built  a  castle,  and 
surrounded  their  estate  with  a  heg,  or  hedge. 
The  place  became  known  as  the  Count’s  Hedge, 
or  ’s  Graven  Hage,  as  the  Dutchmen  still  call  it. 
Foreigners  also  still  say  the  Hague.  Very  prop¬ 
erly  the  chief  city  of  the  rulers,  and  later  the 
capital  of  the  home-land  of  the  tuin  or  town- 
hedge,  was  called  the  Hedge. 

Another  Dutch  name  for  tower,  fort,  castle, 
or  fortification  is  burg.  There  were  hundreds  of 
these  burgs  in  Nederland  during  the  feudal  sys¬ 
tem.  They  are  now  mostly  leveled,  and  the  few 
remaining  ones  are  kept  as  curious  relics  of  a  by¬ 
gone  age.  The  memory  of  them  is  preserved  in 
titles,  and  in  the  names  of  places  and  persons.  In 
Leyden,  the  burg  on  the  hill  in  the  centre  of  the 
town  goes  back  to  possibly  Roman,  certainly  to 
Saxon  days.  Middelburg  in  Zeeland,  Den  Burg 
on  Texel  Island,  Yoorburg,  Yeenenburg  are  a  few 
of  many  examples  of  villages  which  once  con¬ 
sisted  of  people  who  gathered  for  shelter  and 
burg-vried  or  castlepeace  around  the  walls  and 
tower  of  the  baron.  The  burgomaster,  once  lord 
of  the  castle,  is  now  a  mayor.  Family  names, 
such  as  Yosburg,  Van  de  Burg,  or  in  a  dozen 
other  forms  with  burg  are  common.  The  burgher 
from  being  a  castle-tenant,  soldier,  servant,  or 
freed  serf  has  become  a  citizen. 


HOLLAND  AND  THE  COUNTS . 


75 


Dordrecht  has  been  for  many  centuries  the  seat 
of  the  mint  of  Holland.  Count  Floris  III.,  who 
in  1162  married  Ada,  the  granddaughter  of 
David,  King  of  Scotland,  was  probably  the  first 
to  receive  the  privilege  of  coining  from  the  em¬ 
peror.  He  was  the  Crusader  who  died  and  was 
buried  at  Antioch.  He  stamped  his  coins  with 
the  wopen ,  weapons  or  arms  of  Holland,  a  shield 
with  three  vertical  bands,  on  the  central  one  of 
which  were  three  crosses  of  the  Saint  Andrews 
sort.  The  Dutch  money  was  in  pounds,  shillings, 
and  pence,  one  pound  being  equal  to  twenty  shil¬ 
lings,  and  one  shilling  being  worth  twelve  pence. 
Later  on,  the  florin,  first  coined  at  Florence  in 
Italy,  and  stamped  with  a  flower,  was  made  one 
of  the  Dutch  coins,  and  as  a  gold-piece  circu¬ 
lated  freely  in  Nederland.  This  gave  way  to  the 
guilder  or  gulden,  silver  coins  worth  forty  cents 
each,  though  both  names,  florin  and  guilder,  are 
still  used.  The  Dutch  and  German  coins  were 
so  good,  and  so  honestly  up  to  weight,  that  in 
England  their  money  was  at  first  called  44  Easter¬ 
ling,”  after  the  merchants,  who  were  men  from 
the  East,  and  then  shortened  into  44  sterling.” 

About  1518,  in  Bohemia,  a  coin  struck  from 
the  silver  mined  at  Joachim’s  thal,  or  dale,  was 
called  the  Joachimthaler,  and  later  thaler.  This 
coin  the  Dutch  adopted,  calling  it  daalder,  and 
making  it  worth  one  hundred  cents.  It  was  from 
the  Dutch  direct  that  the  coinage  of  the  United 


76 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


States  of  America  was  modeled.  Just  as  pounds, 
shillings,  and  pence  were  Easterling  or  sterling, 
that  is  Dutch,  before  they  were  English,  so  with 
dollars,  dimes,  cents,  and  mills :  they  were  of  Ne¬ 
derland  before  they  were  of  America.  Besides 
our  word  “  mint,”  several  other  terms  used  in  coin¬ 
age,  such  as  “  ingot,”  are  of  Dutch  origin.  For 
centuries  the  ancient  method  of  stamping  out  the 
coins  with  hammer  and  chisel  was  practiced.  The 
Dutch  call  their  national  paper  money  munt - 
billets  or  mint-notes. 

Despite  the  vexatious  restrictions  on  trade  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  many  Dutch  merchants  grew 
rich,  even  during  the  feudal  ages,  in  the  trade 
with  Germany,  Italy,  France,  England,  and  Scot¬ 
land.  Dordrecht  and  Utrecht  were  especially  the 
centres  of  trade.  The  men  who  had  charge  of 
great  business  ventures,  whether  independent,  or, 
as  was  usually  the  case,  as  agents  for  the  busi¬ 
ness,  were  called  patroons  or  patrons. 

Centuries  afterwards,  when  New  Netherland 
was  founded  in  America,  the  men  to  whom  were 
granted  large  areas  of  ground  were  called  by  the 
same  name.  These  manors  or  estates  they  gov¬ 
erned,  or  tried  to  govern,  on  the  principles  of 
feudalism.  As  we  all  know,  most  of  the  Dutch 
settlers  who  came  to  America  revolted  against  the 
idea  of  their  living  under  feudalism,  or  of  its  being 
introduced  into  America.  They  therefore  settled 
beyond  the  patroon’s  estates,  at  Esopus,  Schenec- 


HOLLAND  AND  THE  COUNTS. 


77 


tady,  on  Long  Island,  and  other  places.  Feudal¬ 
ism  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  a  necessity.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  it  was  an  absurdity  and  an 
outrage,  and  none  felt  it  more  than  the  free 
Dutch  farmers  in  New  Netherland.  As  a  rule, 
only  those  who  were  too  poor  to  do  otherwise  set¬ 
tled  under  the  patroons.  Nevertheless,  some  of 
the  founders  of  the  best  families  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  relatives  of  the  patroons,  came  from 
Dordrecht,  the  centre  of  Dutch  feudalism. 

In  jealous  protest  against  the  ship’s  tolls,  or  to 
gain  possession  of  the  Merwede,  in  order  to  fol¬ 
low  the  same  enriching  policy,  other  lords,  both 
spiritual  and  temporal,  made  war  on  the  Counts 
of  Holland.  For  a  long  time  the  fighting  bish¬ 
ops  of  Utrecht,  as  well  as  the  counts  and  even 
the  Emperor  of  Germany  battled  by  land  and 
water.  The  religious  leaders  having  rich  reve¬ 
nues,  armies  of  workmen,  retainers,  servants,  and 
slaves,  could  not  keep  out,  and  would  not  keep 
out  of  the  fray.  Often  they  joined  in  the  many 
petty  wars  that  raged  with  intermissions  during 
five  centuries.  As  in  Japan  and  India,  so  in 
Europe.  Christian  abbot  and  bishop,  just  like 
the  Buddhists  in  Asia,  put  on  the  helmet  and 
led  their  motley  hosts  to  battle.  It  would  be 
tedious  to  tell  of  the  strifes  between  Holland  and 
Utrecht,  Brabant  and  Flanders,  and  all  the  other 
squabbles  of  the  little  feudal  states.  The  general 
result  was  that  the  men  who  handled  the  sword 


78 


BRA  VE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


and  the  crucifix  as  their  tools  grew  rich.  The 
mass  of  the  population  through  poverty,  timidity, 
debt,  capture  in  war,  crime,  shipwreck,  or  other 
causes  became  slaves.  The  social  wreckage  of 
humanity  was  enormous.  Some  new  movement  in 
society  was  necessary  to  break  up  the  old  frame¬ 
work  and  make  way  for  a  newer  life  and  larger 
development. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  DUTCH  CRUSADERS. 

The  Crusades  are  called  in  Dutch  the  Kruis- 
tochten,  or  the  Campaigns  of  the  Cross.  These 
more  or  less  religious  wars  lasted  from  about 
1096  to  1292.  Stirred  by  the  complaints  of  pil¬ 
grims,  the  preaching  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  and 
the  command  of  the  Pope,  but  probably  even 
more  by  their  longing  to  break  the  stagnation  of 
life  under  feudalism,  the  peoples  of  Europe  were 
set  moving  eastward.  Their  professed  object  was 
to  wrest  the  holy  sepulchre  in  Palestine  from  the 
Saracens. 

The  exact  purpose  first  in  view  was  to  secure 
the  rights  of  Christian  pilgrims  to  travel  peace¬ 
fully  in  and  through  Mohammedan  countries. 
Later  on,  this  purpose  enlarged  according  to  the 
necessities  of  papal  politics.  All  Palestine  was 
to  be  conquered  and  a  Christian  empire  set  up  in 
the  Holy  Land. 

Society  in  Europe  was  stirred  to  its  depths. 
Irish,  Scottish,  English,  Norwegian,  French,  Ger¬ 
man,  Dutch,  Spanish,  and  Italian  men,  women,  and 
children  hurried  towards  the  rising  sun.  Proba- 
bly  six  millions  of  persons  left  their  homes  duu 


80 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


ing  the  first  Crusade.  In  the  later  expeditions, 
instead  of  unruly  mobs,  splendid  armies  of . 
knights  and  footmen  led  by  kings  and  emperors 
moved  by  land  and  sea  into  Syria.  Jerusalem 
was  taken  and  retaken  in  the  wars  between  the 
warriors  of  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent. 

By  the  time  of  the  fourth  great  Crusade,  in 
1203,  the  crusading  business  had  become  the  fixed 
policy  of  the  Popes.  The  spiritual  idea  had  then 
become  obscured,  and  conquest  was  the  main  point 
in  view.  Instead  of  going  as  far  as  Palestine, 
those  crusaders  who  followed  Baldwin,  Count  of 
Flanders,  seized  the  Byzantine  empire  and  held 
the  throne  of  Constantinople  for  fifty-six  years. 

In  1244  the  Seljuk  Turks,  ancestors  of  those 
now  misruling  the  Ottoman  empire,  burst  into 
Syria,  and  once  more  with  hammer  and  fire  re¬ 
duced  Jerusalem  to  rubbish  and  ashes.  Nothing 
further  of  importance  was  accomplished  by  the 
Christians,  and  after  the  fall  of  Acre  in  1291  the 
warriors  of  the  Cross  returned  home.  The  Turk 
still  holds  the  petty  little  walled  town  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  and  all  its  rubbish,  and  camps  out  in  Eu¬ 
rope.  So  great  a  place  in  history  has  Jerusalem 
held,  that  many  tourists,  on  first  seeing  the  actual 
place,  utter  the  exclamation,  “  How  contemptibly 
small !  ” 

Thousands  of  books  have  been  written  about 
the  Crusades  which  cost  millions  of  lives,  did 
much  mischief,  and  caused  great  waste.  On  the 


THE  DUTCH  CRUSADERS. 


81 


whole,  however,  the  good  they  wrought  exceeded 
the  evil.  The  movement  was  needed  to  save 
European  society  from  stagnation.  Let  us  see 
how  it  did  this. 

The  Dutch  were  not  so  deeply  stirred  by  the 
pilgrims,  preaching  friars,  and  Popes,  as  were 
some  other  peoples,  nor  did  they  leave  their  home¬ 
land  so  easily  to  go  on  what  seemed  a  chase  after 
wild  geese.  In  other  words,  they  had  their  own 
thoughts  as  to  the  merits  and  demerits  of  orders 
from  Rome.  Nevertheless  we  find  some  famous 
families  in  the  Crusades,  among  whom  were  the 
Arkells,  the  Brederodes,  Floris  III.,  and  Wil¬ 
lem  I.  Baudewijn,  or  Baldwin  IX.  of  Flanders 
was  made  emperor  of  Constantinople. 

In  the  Crusade  of  the  year  1187,  Floris  III., 
Count  of  Holland,  followed  the  German  emperor 
Frederick  Barbarossa  into  Greece  and  Asia  Mi¬ 
nor.  The  long  marches  and  sieges  in  hot  coun¬ 
tries,  with  alternate  famine  and  plenty,  thinned 
the  ranks  of  these  men  from  more  bracing  cli¬ 
mates  and  accustomed  to  more  regular  living. 
Many  thousands  more  perished  by  disease  than 
by  the  blows  of  the  enemy.  Floris  III.  died  at 
Antioch,  and  was  buried  with  the  emperor. 

Floris’s  son  Willem  I.  (Willem  is  the  Dutch 
form  of  William)  remained  five  years  in  the  Holy 
Land.  He  then  came  home  to  find  his  father’s 
dominions  in  disorder,  to  fight  a  battle  at  Alk- 
maar,  to  lose  and  to  regain  this  authority,  and 


82 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


to  have  various  adventures  in  France  and  Eng¬ 
land.  To  the  latter  country  he  went  first  as  an 
ally  of  King  John,  the  worthless  king  from  whom 
the  English  nobles  extorted  Magna  Charta.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  truce  between  France  and  England,  Wil¬ 
lem,  Count  of  Holland,  broke  away  from  King 
John,  joined  the  side  of  the  King  of  France,  and 
crossed  over  to  England  with  a  following  of 
thirty  nobles  and  their  vassals.  The  war  in  Eng¬ 
land  was  soon  over,  and  once  more  Willem  em¬ 
barked  in  the  Crusades. 

It  was  a  brilliant  sight  when  his  little  army  in 
twelve  ships,  gay  with  streamers  and  banners, 
sailed  down  the  Maas,  past  Rotterdam,  and  out 
into  the  North  Sea.  There  they  were  joined  by 
a  squadron  of  Frisian  vessels,  and  together  the 
combined  fleet  sailed  for  Lisbon.  At  this  time  the 
Moors  and  the  Christians  were  fighting  in  Portu¬ 
gal.  A  message  to  Count  Willem  from  the  Por¬ 
tuguese  praying  for  help  was  gladly  heard.  The 
Hollanders  plunged  into  the  thick  of  the  fray, 
while  the  Frisians  sailed  away  to  the  Holy  Land. 
After  taking  Alcazar,  the  Dutchmen,  so  far  be¬ 
low  the  beer  and  butter  latitude  of  Europe,  and 
so  well  within  the  wine  and  oil  line,  enjoyed 
richly  their  leisure  in  the  land  of  grapes  and 
oranges.  They  were  so  leisurely  in  their  move¬ 
ments  that  the  Pope  had  to  stir  them  up  to  join 
their  fellow  crusaders  at  Acre. 

Egypt  was  now  the  point  of  attack  previous  to 


THE  DUTCH  CRUSADERS. 


83 


the  subjugation  of  Syria.  Hollanders  and  Fri¬ 
sians  joined  forces  and  took  the  principal  part  in 
the  siege  and  capture  of  Damietta.  This  walled 
town  was  further  strengthened  by  a  fort  built  on 
a  rock  in  the  middle  of  the  river  Nile,  and  the 
water  passage  cut  off  by  a  powerful  iron  chain. 
To  break  this  chain  and  capture  the  fort  was 
to  put  the  city  at  the  mercy  of  the  crusaders.  The 
Dutchmen  built  a  floating  fortress  of  wood,  on 
which  was  a  tower,  with  a  huge  saw  hung  from  a 
projecting  frame  and  worked  as  in  a  saw-pit.  Or, 
it  may  be  that  the  great  tower-like  sterns  of  the 
mediaeval  ships  were  meant  by  the  historian  who 
tells  us  of  the  feat.  By  rowing  and  pushing  their 
ships  and  war-machines  close  up  to  the  chain, 
they  succeeded  in  sawing  it  through.  Then  throw¬ 
ing  a  boarding-scuttle,  they  captured  first  the  fort 
and  then  the  city.  The  crusaders  held  the  place 
three  years.  The  fame  of  this  Dutch  exploit 
soon  became  known  all  over  Christendom.  For 
many  years  afterwards,  Haarlemmers  celebrated 
the  exploit  at  Damietta. 

Nothing  permanent,  however,  came  of  this  last 
of  the  Crusades.  Willem  left  Egypt  and  came 
home.  He  died  in  1224.  Far  better  than  this 
work  done  in  the  East  was  his  granting  of  the 
famous  charter  of  privileges  which  one  still  sees 
under  its  glass  case  in  the  fine  old  city  of  Middel- 
burg.  This  established  the  authority  of  peaceful 
law  over  the  power  of  brute  force  and  the  sword. 


84 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Being  one  of  the  oldest  specimens  of  the  Dutch 
language,  this  ancient  document,  the  Middelburg 
charter,  of  about  the  same  age  of  the  Magna  Cliarta 
(which,  however,  is  in  Latin),  is  of  great  inter¬ 
est  apart  from  its  political  importance.  It  shows 
that  Dutch  was  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century  a 
fixed  language.  It  was  then,  what  it  is  now,  a 
strong  and  pure  “  Low  ”  Dutch  (Deutsch)  idiom, 
not  a  mixture  of  Teutonic  and  Latin  elements, 
like  the  English,  nor  a  compound  of  Low  and 
High  Dutch  (Deutsch)  like  modern  German. 
The  Dutch  language  to-day  is  neither  a  mixture, 
nor  a  compound,  nor  a  dialect,  but  a  strong  lan¬ 
guage  securely  fixed  in  grammatical  foundation 
and  structure.  The  use  of  the  common  people’s 
speech  in  writing,  instead  of  monkish  Latin,  also 
proves  that  the  Nederlanders  held  their  native 
tongue  in  honor,  were  less  under  the  control  of  the 
priests,  and  were  more  democratic  in  tendency 
than  in  lands  where  Rome  had  more  power. 

Mementos  of  the  Dutch  crusaders  and  their 
exploit  at  Damietta  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
great  cathedral  at  Haarlem.  Suspended  by  wires 
from  the  lofty  brick  arches  are  three  models  of 
Count  Willem’s  ships,  which,  to  the  number  of 
the  apostles,  sailed  down  the  Maas  in  May,  1217. 
These  mementos,  first  made  and  hung  up  about 
the  time  of  Columbus,  fell  to  pieces  from  age  and 
dry  rot  in  1668,  when  the  present  models  were 
made  and  took  their  place.  An  American  visiting 


THE  DUTCH  CRUSADERS. 


85 


Haarlem  in  1784  noticed  also  two  silver  bells  cap¬ 
tured  from  the  Saracens.  Fixed  in  the  sterns  of 
the  ships  is  a  model  of  the  saw  which  severed  the 
iron  chain  at  Damietta  in  the  Nile. 

Uncertain  and  many-tongued  tradition  avers 
that  the  Dutchman  who  invented  the  chain-saw 
took  his  idea  from  the  saw-like  emblem  on  the 
wapen  or  arms  of  Holland,  which  may  be  de¬ 
scribed  as  either  three  Saint  Andrew’s  crosses 
standing  on  one  another  in  a  row,  or  as  a  double^ 
edged  saw  with  four  teeth  on  a  side.  Others  say 
that  the  arms  of  Holland  were  borrowed  from  the 
saw  and  commemorate  it.  The  wapen  of  the  city 
of  Haarlem  consist  of  a  sword  under  a  cross  and 
between  four  stars,  two  on  either  side,  with  the 
Latin  motto,  Vicit  vim  virtus ,  meaning  “  courage 
conquered  force.” 

Stars,  shields,  eagles,  lions,  ships,  castles,  and 
herring  are  the  favorite  emblems  in  Dutch  her¬ 
aldry.  Variations  are  seen  in  Schiedam,  which 
has  three  hour-glasses  ;  Hoorn,  out  of  which  came 
the  discoverer  of  Cape  Horn,  a  hunter’s  wind¬ 
pipe  :  Monnikendam,  which  has  a  monk  holding  a 
club  between  two  griffins  and  under  two  angels  ; 
the  Hague,  a  stork :  Goes,  a  goose  ;  Flushing,  a 
two-handled  flask ;  Zwolle,  a  cross ;  Steenwyck, 
an  anchor ;  Oldenzaal,  a  figure  of  the  Pope  with 
mitre  and  crozier.  Most  of  these  heraldic  em¬ 
blems  go  back  to  the  time  of  the  Crusades. 

Feudalism  was  the  fertile  soil  of  variety  in 


86 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


device  and  symbol,  for  in  those  days  there  was 
little  or  no  union  of  states.  The  church  and  the 
empire  were  the  bonds  holding  European  society 
together.  There  was  no  real  nation  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word.  The  average  person  was  “  a 
man  without  a  country.”  There  were  kings  and 
subjects,  but  no  citizens.  In  feudalism  everything 
is  divided  and  fractional.  No  such  thing  as  an 
army,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  exists. 
Each  band  of  warriors  fights  under  the  blazon  of 
his  personal  leader.  The  Cross,  as  opposed  to  the 
Crescent,  was  the  symbol  under  which  the  motley 
companies  rallied.  Anything  like  a  uniform  dress, 
except  for  small  detachments,  was  unknown. 
Hence  the  variety  and  picturesqueness  of  medi¬ 
aeval  life,  in  war  and  peace,  whether  in  Japan  or 
Holland,  France  or  England. 

When  feudal  gives  way  to  national  life,  and 
loyalty  to  patriotism,  then  only  can  there  be  a  true 
nation  with  political  unity,  an  army,  uniform,  and 
national  flag.  We  shall  see  how  in  time  Neder¬ 
land  had  had  one  flag,  first  the  orange,  white,  and 
blue,  and  then,  since  1650,  the  red,  white,  and 
blue,  while  Belgium  took  the  old  colors  of  Brabant 
for  her  standard  of  red,  yellow,  and  black.  In 
both  countries  the  lion  first,  and  the  lion  always, 
has  been  the  favorite  emblem. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Crusades  did  more  for- 
Nederland  than  the  Dutch  did  for  the  Crusades. 
Thousands  of  ignorant  and  half-civilized  Chris¬ 
tians  left  their  cold  and  wet  homes  in  Holland  and 
Friesland  to  have  their  eyes  opened  in  the  sunny 
Levant  and  the  luxurious  East.  From  their  huts 
and  rude  life,  they  came  in  contact  with  great 
cities,  marble  houses,  elegant  pavements,  superb 
dresses,  and  refined  manners. 

The  first  crusaders  went  out  to  kill,  horned 
devils,  the  last  came  home  to  imitate  gentlemen. 
Both  the  clodhopper  and  the  knight,  who  at  home 
knew  little  or  nothing  of  underclothing,  napkins, 
table  or  bed  linen,  carpet,  wall  paper,  bath  tubs, 
soap,  perfume,  or  spices,  were  surprised  at  the 
wealth  and  refinement  of  southeastern  Europe 
and  of  Asia  Minor.  They  went  to  school  in 
Greek  and  Saracen  civilization.  They  who  had 
considered  books  and  writing  as  proper  only  for 
monks  began  to  suspect  that  these  must  be  good 
also  for  soldiers  and  farmers,  travelers  and  mer¬ 
chants.  The  chains  of  bigotry  and  prejudice  were 
broken.  Often  it  was  discovered  that  the  morals 


88 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


of  the  Saracen  were  superior  to  those  who  sewed 
red  or  white  crosses  on  their  shoulders.  The 
Dutch  and  other  laymen,  by  often  visiting  Rome 
and  living  close  to  the  church  rulers,  began  to  see 
more  clearly  into  motives  and  policy.  The  facts 
which  came  to  light  destroyed  their  respect  for 
the  authority  of  the  prelates.  The  Crusades  pre¬ 
pared  the  way  for  Wicliff,  Erasmus,  and  Luther. 

In  Nederland,  one  of  the  most  far-reaching 
results  was  the  freedom  gained  by  the  slaves. 
The  church-slaves  had  a  much  easier  life  than 
those  held  as  chattels  by  laymen,  but  when  the 
Crusades  were  preached,  even  the  slaves  were  in¬ 
vited  to  go  to  war,  and  were  promised  their  free¬ 
dom  should  they  return  alive.  In  Nederland, 
tens  of  thousands  of  these  bondmen  bravely  vol¬ 
unteered  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  and  thou¬ 
sands  more  of  the  slaves  of  knights  were  sold  or 
mortgaged  to  the  monasteries,  and  their  condition 
was  thus  greatly  improved.  While  so  many  slaves 
were  absent,  the  work  of  farming  had  to  be  done 
by  free  men,  which  dignified  toil  and  elevated 
mechanical  trades  and  occupation.  Thus  both 
serfs  and  free  workmen  and  laborers  were  bene¬ 
fited. 

The  great  number  of  freedmen  returning  home 
from  oriental  lands  swelled  the  number  of  the  cit¬ 
izen  population.  Still  more  important  was  the 
fact  that,  being  full  of  new  ideas,  the  returned 
crusaders  were  apt  to  stay  in  the  towns  and  en- 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES.  89 


gage  in  mechanical  trades  or  in  business  instead 
of  going  back  in  the  country  as  farm  laborers. 
This  movement  of  population  from  the  farms  to 
the  streets  increased  the  size  of  the  towns  and 
gave  them  importance.  With  new  wants,  en¬ 
larged  minds,  and  practical  knowledge  of  the 
East,  an  active  commerce  sprang  up.  People 
wanted  the  spices,  wines,  oils,  dress-stuffs,  fruit, 
perfume,  and  luxuries  of  the  Mediterranean  coun¬ 
tries  and  Asia.  In  our  days,  when  we  have  such 
a  variety  of  food  and  flavors  in  our  gardens  and 
orchards,  and  swift  steamers  bring  tropical  fruits 
to  our  table  in  season,  we  can  hardly  understand 
how  greedily  our  ancestors,  craved  spices,  and 
what  high  prices  they  were  willing  to  pay  for 
them.  From  the  first  the  Dutch  merchants  aimed 
to  win  a  large  trade  in  spices,  ^.fter  several  cen¬ 
turies  Nederland  finally  gained  possession  of  the 
richest  spice-lands  in  all  the  earth. 

This  Mediterranean  and  oriental  commerce 
stimulated  ship-building,  attracted  thousands  of 
hardy  young  men  to  the  sea,  and  sent  whole  fleets 
to  Venice,  Constantinople,  and  Smyrna.  The 
Dutch  towns  became  seats  of  power.  Having 
plenty  of  work,  the  mechanics  were  able  to  form 
guilds.  With  abundance  of  money,  the  towns 
bought  of  the  land-masters  and  castle-lords  char¬ 
ters  giving  rights  and  privileges.  Once  having 
given  them  to  the  people,  neither  counts  nor  no¬ 
bles  nor  bishops  could  take  back  what  they  had 


90 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


given.  Step  by  step  the  towns  won  more  free¬ 
dom  fixed  on  law,  and  became  centres  of  liberty 
as  municipal  republics.  The  guilds  of  skilled 
workmen  had  much  to  do  with  gaining  the  liber¬ 
ties  enjoyed  by  the  cities. 

Having  begun  to  tame  and  lead  to  obedience  to 
public  welfare  the  lords  temporal,  the  Nederland- 
ers  proceeded  to  put  hooks  in  the  noses  of  the 
lords  spiritual.  They  found  that  religion  and  the 
church,  government  and  the  king,  industry  and 
the  slave-owner,  were  not  necessarily  synonymous. 
One  could  easily  exist  without  the  other.  In  Dutch 
history,  clerical  power  never  became  petrified  and 
made  a  menace  to  liberty  as  in  the  English  House 
of  Lords.  The  Dutch  have  always  been  saved 
this  expense  and  incubus. 

“  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,”  who 
believe  that  under  God  the  people  are  the  source 
of  authority,  do  not  read  history  as  the  old  monks 
and  hirelings  of  kings  wrote  it.  In  the  mediaeval 
chronicles,  men  whom  we  honor  are  called  “  here¬ 
tics,”  “blasphemers,”  and  other  vile  names.  Of¬ 
ten  these  so-called  heretics  were  true  patriots  and 
friends  of  God  and  man.  They  were  struggling 
after  the  same  liberty  which  we  enjoy  and  value 
in  a  state  without  a  king  and  in  churches  without 
political  intermeddling.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is,  from  the  point  of  view  even  of 
many  Europeans  still  living,  the  most  awful  and 
dangerous  heresy  ever  dreamed  of. 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES.  91 


One  of  these  “blasphemous  heretics,”  named 
Tauchelyn,  believed  in  the  rights  of  the  people ; 
or,  of  the  congregation  as  against  the  despotism  of 
the  bishops  and  priests.  He  denied  the  dogma  of 
the  real  presence,  and  refused  to  pay  tithes  to  the 
clergy.  Of  course,  the  most  odious  crimes,  of 
which  he  was  probably  innocent,  were  charged 
against  him  by  the  clergy.  The  people  honored 
and  loved  him,  seeing  in  him  their  champion. 
After  they  had  succeeded  for  a  long  time  in  pro¬ 
tecting  him  from  the  fury  of  the  churchmen,  he 
was  knocked  on  the  head  by  a  priest  while  going 
on  board  a  ship  unattended. 

The  heresies,  however,  were  kept  alive  by  W al- 
densians  from  Italy,  Albigensians  from  southern 
France,  and  others.  These  challenged  the  power 
of  the  clericals,  rebuked  the  low  morals  of  the 
priests,  and  preached  that  freedom  in  Christ  which 
to-day  is  the  corner-stone  of  true  religion.  The 
heretics  were  far  from  perfect  in  character  them¬ 
selves.  “  Sweet  reasonableness  ”  was  not  their 
notable  trait.  It  may  be  that  they  were  person¬ 
ally  very  disagreeable  people,  yet  they  were  al¬ 
most  always  reformers.  They  were  the  true  spir¬ 
itual  ancestors  of  those  Christians  who  are  most 
numerous  in  the  United  States  of  America  in  the 
nineteenth  century. 

Great  changes  came  over  the  landscape  of  Ne¬ 
derland  after  the  Crusades.  In  air,  earth,  and 
water,  novelties  struck  the  eye.  Windmills  came 


92 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


from  the  East,  and  were  built  by  the  hundreds, 
and,  in  time,  by  the  thousands,  until  to-day  they 
stand  singly  like  sentinels,  or  in  files  and  battal¬ 
ions,  as  in  a  great  army.  Counting  large  and 
small,  there  are  probably  a  hundred  thousand 
windmills  in  Nederland.  They  pump  water  in 
and  out,  saw  wood,  grind  grain,  load  and  unload 
boats  and  wagons,  and  hoist  and  lower  burdens. 
An  immense  addition  to  the  civilizing  force  and 
working  power  of  the  Dutch  world  was  made 
when  winds  were  compelled  to  do  duty  in  turn¬ 
ing  mills. 

As  usual  with  a  Dutchman,  who  improves  upon 
what  he  borrows,  he  began  at  once  to  perfect  the 
new  machine.  He  enlarged  the  size  of  the  arms 
and  sails  outside,  and  of  the  wheels  and  grinding 
stones  within.  He  invented  the  saw-mill.  He 
made  the  interior  a  house  for  storage  or  for  hu¬ 
man  residence.  He  added  the  device  of  the  roll¬ 
ing  top,  or  roof,  which  enables  the  miller  to  catch 
the  wind  from  whatever  quarter  it  blows,  or  to 
meet  it  when  it  changes  suddenly.  One  thing, 
however,  even  a  Dutchman  has  not  learned,  and 
that  is  to  make  the  wind  blow  when  it  is  calm  and 
his  grist  lies  waiting. 

Other  things  high  up  in  the  air  which  came  from 
the  South  and  the  Orient  were  the  open  bulb-like 
spires  and  cupolas,  so  noticeable  in  Dutch  land¬ 
scapes,  and  which  recall  the  Saracenic  domes  and 
minarets.  In  these,  chimes  of  bells  were  hung ;  the 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES.  93 


old  hand-bell  made  of  riveted  iron  giving  place  to 
sonorous  bronze.  The  fame  of  the  belfries  of  the 
Netherlands  has  been  sung  by  our  own  Longfel¬ 
low.  For  centuries  their  chimes  have  sounded  out 
the  hours  with  sweetly  solemn  or  merry  music. 
Their  purpose  has  been  not  only  to  scare  away 
demons,  but  to  summon  freemen.  In  the  superb 
civic  architecture  for  which  the  Dutch  cities  are 
renowned,  especially  in  the  town  halls,  were  hung 
up  liberty  bells.  These  were  true  forerunners  of 
that  which,  on  July  4,  1776,  named  “Liberty 
bell  ”  by  the  Pennsylvania  Dutchmen,  proclaimed 
freedom  “  throughout  all  the  land  and  to  all  the 
inhabitants  thereof.” 

Down  in  the  water,  many  an  idea  brought 
home  by  a  crusader  who  had  seen  the  public  works 
of  Italy  and  the  East  took  root,  and,  like  a  pond- 
lily,  blossomed  richly  because  well  anchored. 
Heretofore  the  dykes  had  been  small,  rude,  and 
unscientific.  Hydraulic  engineering  was  studied, 
and  the  reclamation  of  land  became  a  fine  art. 
Canals  were  improved  and  equipped  with  locks. 
These  canal-locks,  or  water-ladders,  were  invented 
either  in  Italy  or  Holland,  but  not  perfected  until 
the  seventeenth  century.  After  the  Crusades,  the 
dykes  were  improved,  made  of  more  durable  ma¬ 
terials,  and  built  by  the  mile  along  the  rivers  and 
sea-front.  The  pile-drivers  came  into  use  for  the 
sinking  of  whole  forests  of  trees  with  their  heads 
downwards.  With  the  aid  of  the  windmill,  the 


94 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


drained  and  dried  acres  multiplied.  The  “  pol¬ 
der,”  as  such  a  piece  of  land  rescued  from  the 
watery  world  is  called,  was  no  longer  a  curiosity. 
Thus  early  in  the  Middle  Ages  we  can  trace  the 
beginnings  of  that  other  state,  which,  besides  the 
States-General,  governs  Nederland,  —  the  Water 
State. 

Another  object  which  rose  up  numerously  after 
the  Crusades  was  the  brick-kiln.  The  brick,  in 
its  modern  form  and  in  northern  Europe,  may  be 
called  a  Dutch  invention.  The  Romans  were 
great  brickmakers  and  bricklayers.  Even  when 
they  borrowed  the  Greek  styles  of  architecture, 
they  built  a  brick  core  inside  the  marble  envelope. 
In  Britain  and  the  Rhine  region  they  used  much 
small  tile-like  brick,  samples  of  which  may  still 
be  seen  in  ruins  or  excavations;  but  after  the 
Romans  left  and  barbarians  triumphed,  brick¬ 
making  became  one  of  the  lost  arts.  The  people 
of  northern  Europe  lived  in  huts  of  bark  or 
wood.  Even  when  castles  or  fine  houses  were 
later  built  in  England,  they  were  of  stone,  not  of 
brick. 

In  the  Rhine  delta,  the  Dutch  revived  the  art 
of  moulding  clay  into  oblong  forms  and  baking 
them  into  stone.  Their  material  lay  at  hand  in 
rich  beds  deposited  during  centuries  in  the  slug¬ 
gish  river  bottoms.  They  made  brick  houses, 
walls,  pavements,  roadbeds.  Of  this  and  terra¬ 
cotta  they  erected  palaces  and  monasteries.  They 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES.  95 


piled  it  in  mid-air  and  raised  lofty  towers  and 
soaring  arches  in  cathedral  churches.  A  stone 
house  in  Nederland  is  a  rarity.  There  is  no  land 
on  earth  where  one  is  more  vividly  reminded  of 
the  early  industry  on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  where 
the  tower-builders  said:  64 Go  to,  let  us  make 
brick  and  burn  them  thoroughly.”  So  hard  are 
the  Dutch  bricks  burned  that  the  common  name 
is  “  klinker.”  Many  of  them  have  defied  the 
teeth  of  time  for  ages. 

The  church  towers  which  dominate  the  land¬ 
scapes  of  Holland  rose  up  in  the  great  air-ocean 
as  the  coral  reefs  rise  in  the  salt  seas.  One  by 
one  were  laid  those  millions  of  bricks  which  make 
the  cathedral  tower  of  Utrecht.  Upreared  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  musical  with  its  chime  of 
forty-two  bells,  this  tower  forms  a  landmark  visi¬ 
ble  in  nearly  all  of  Holland.  After  five  centuries 
the  superb  structure  has  swerved  not  a  hair’s 
breadth  from  its  perfect  perpendicular. 

The  Nederlanders  became  expert  makers,  not 
only  of  bricks  but  of  tiles,  drain-pipes,  and  terra¬ 
cotta  ornamentation.  They  early  learned  to  glaze 
tiles  and  to  roof  their  houses  with  this  shining 
faience.  Their  experience  in  handling  clay  in 
manifold  forms,  and  tempering  with  water  and 
fire,  prepared  them  for  the  later  industries  in 
which  table  crockery,  fireplace  picture-tiles,  and 
tobacco  pipes  made  the  names  of  Delft  and 
Gouda  common  words  in  many  languages  and 


96 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


countries.  The  bricklayers  became  skillful  in  all 
the  ways  of  laying  brick,  of  making  union,  -and  of 
breaking  joints.  From  Nederland  the  Dutchmen 
carried  their  art  to  Germany  and  England. 
Brick-making  in  Great  Britain  after  Roman  days 
was  unknown  until  the  Flemings  and  Hollanders 
reintroduced  the  art,  set  up  brick-kilns,  and  made 

_  t 

brick  houses.  The  “  Flemish  bond,”  as  still  used 
by  our  men  of  the  trowel,  testifies  to  its  origin. 

Very  curious  are  the  patterns  which  one  notices 
in  the  fancifully  laid  courses  of  brick  in  a  Dutch 
house,  especially  near  the  eaves,  gables,  and  cor¬ 
ners.  In  the  old  Dutch  towns  in  New  York  State, 
and  in  Massachusetts  villages,  we  can  at  once 
pick  out  the  dwelling  erected  in  early  colonial 
days  by  builders  from  Haarlem  or  Dordrecht,  who 
used  klinkers  fresh  from  the  kilns  of  the  Vader- 
land.  These  as  ballast,  or  ordered  for  cash,  were 
brought  over  in  the  ample  holds  of  the  galliots  to 
Plymouth  or  to  New  Netherland. 

In  another  way  the  revival  of  brick-making  was 
very  helpful  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  Owing  to  the  spongy  soil,  Dutch  houses 
must  be  built  on  piles  driven  deep  into  the  ground. 
Often  the  cost  of  the  work  done  below  the  stone 
foundation  equals  that  of  the  buildings  raised 
above  it.  In  the  walled  towns  space  was  very 
valuable,  and  the  streets  had  to  be  very  narrow. 
The  old  wooden  houses,  huddled  together,  had 
very  little  sunshine  and  not  much  ventilation. 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  CBUSADES.  97 

The  use  of  brick  enabled  builders  to  make  very 
high  houses,  which  might  be  narrow,  but  with 
plenty  of  windows  the  rooms  were  sunny  and 
wholesome.  One  city  on  the  Zuyder  Zee  is  named 
44  Narrow  Houses,”  or  Enkhuysen. 

It  was  a  novelty  and  delight  when  glass  win¬ 
dows  were  introduced  from  Italy.  Even  in  winter 
the  folks  at  home  could  look  out  upon  the  land¬ 
scape.  In  summer  they  could  see,  as  they  walked 
the  streets,  all  the  bright  colors  and  moving  life 
on  the  canals  reflected  in  the  panes.  Peaked 
roofs  and  dormer  windows  grew  into  general  fash¬ 
ion.  Walls  were  often  richly  carved,  painted,  or 
decorated  with  terra-cotta,  but  the  “staff,”  stucco, 
or  plaster,  so  common  in  Italy,  was  never  very 
popular,  owing  to  the  ravages  of  Jack  Frost. 
Whatever,  on  a  house,  was  exposed  to  the  weather 
must  be  of  burned  brick  or  solid  stone. 

Besides  making  the  mortar  of  excellent  quality, 
the  tall  houses  were  often  girded  and  clamped 
with  iron  bands,  and  thus  held  together  like  a 
bird-cage,  or  the  new  44  sky-scrapers  ”  of  Chicago. 
The  44  anchors,”  or  iron  clamps  which,  at  the  end 
of  the  rods,  came  out  in  front  on  the  walls,  were 
quaintly  cut  or  hammered  into  shapes  of  figures, 
by  which  the  date  of  erection  could  be  easily  read. 
The  especial  feature,  however,  was  the  gable, 
where  the  roof  joined  the  house  front,  with  its 
many  corbie-steps  or  crow-stairs,  the  idea  being 
that  these  were  for  the  ravens  or  crows  to  prac- 


98 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


tice  stepping  upon.  Indeed,  while  the  raven  was 
a  solitary  croaker,  the  crows  were  common  in¬ 
mates  of  mediaeval  towns,  in  which  they  proved 
themselves  good  scavengers. 

In  modern  times,  more  soap,  sunshine,  dexter¬ 
ity  and  industry  in  using  mop,  broom,  and  shovel, 
the  increase  of  hygienic  knowledge,  and  of  medi¬ 
cal  science,  has  driven  “  the  plague,”  the  “  black 
death,”  and  other  forms  of  pestilence  away.  In 
the  Middle  Ages  these  raged  in  the  towns,  and 
slew  more  human  beings  than  were  killed  in  war. 
For  over  two  centuries  these  have  been  absent, 
while  other  epidemics,  like  cholera  and  yellow 
fever,  can  be  fought  and  subdued.  In  the  science 
and  art  of  health  and  cleanliness  the  Dutch  were 
pioneers.  A  national  passion  for  the  application 
of  soap  and  water  possesses  them,  and  in  their 
eyes  “  laziness  and  dirt  are  the  worst  forms  of 
original  sin.” 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS. 

It  seems  curious,  in  our  day,  to  hear  of  politi¬ 
cal  parties  calling  themselves  by  such  names  as 
Cods  and  Hooks.  Yet  the  civil  wars  in  Neder¬ 
land  between  these  two  factions  lasted  from  about 
the  year  1351  until  1497,  during  which  time  these 
names  were  in  every  mouth. 

These  long  wars  had  much  to  do  with  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  Dutch  freedom.  Next  to  the  Cru¬ 
sades,  they  were  the  means  of  breaking  up  the 
feudal  system.  As  the  prolonged  French  and 
Indian  wars,  and  the  struggles  between  the  Brit¬ 
ish  king’s  favorites  and  the  composite  American 
people,  prepared  our  own  fathers  for  success  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  so  the  wars  of  the  Cods 
and  Hooks  trained  the  Dutchmen  to  win  their 
liberty  in  the  eighty  years’  war  of  1568-1648. 

When  Nederland,  instead  of  being  as  it  is  now, 
one  country,  was  divided  up  into  many  petty 
states,  the  counts  were  sovereign.  Under  them, 
holding  larger  or  smaller  tracts  of  land,  were  the 
barons  or  feudal  landlords.  Under  these,  again, 
were  tenants  who  did  the  actual  work  of  farmers 
in  peace  and  of  soldiers  in  war.  Many  of  these 


100 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


tenants  were  influential,  often  wealthy,  and  with 
some  education.  They  were  friendly  with  the 
townspeople  and  worked  with  them  to  secure 
charters  from  the  counts.  The  substance  of  these 
charters  was,  that  instead  of  violence  there  should 
be  law.  The  oldest  known  document  of  this  sort, 
dated  A.  d.  1217,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  fine  old 
hall  in  Middelb urg.  It  was  granted  by  Willem 
I.,  Count  of  Holland,  and  Joanna,  Countess  of 
Flanders.  The  gist  of  it  all  is  in  one  sentence  : 
“  To  all  Middelburgers  one  kind  of  law  is  guar¬ 
anteed.”  On  this  model  most  of  the  city  charters 
are  based. 

The  towns  had  to  pay  handsomely  for  a  charter. 
The  count  was  usually  glad  to  get  the  money,  and 
also  in  this  way  to  make  himself  popular  with 
the  people.  Yet,  as  the  barons  lost  local  power 
and  influence  as  fast  as  the  towns  gained,  there 
was  continual  jealousy  between  baron  and  count, 
and  baron  and  town,  and  their  followers.  Quar¬ 
rels  broke  out,  and  the  lines  for  political  parties 
were  laid,  as  they  are  in  almost  every  age  and 
country,  in  love  for  the  inherited  state  of  things 
—  the  good  old  days  of  yore,  when  the  world  went 
very  well  —  and  desire  for  change  and  improve¬ 
ment  when  life  promises  to  be  vastly  better.  One 
party  wants  to  keep  things  as  they  are,  and  used 
to  be  ;  the  other  wants  to  alter  through  new  metli-. 
ods  or  go  back  to  the  very  ancient  way. 

Willem  I.,  Count  of  Holland,  dying  without 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS.  101 

immediate  heirs,  his  sister  Margaret  became 
Duchess  of  Hainault,  Countess  of  Holland,  and 
Lady  of  Friesland.  She  married  Lewis  V.,  Duke 
of  Bavaria,  in  1346,  and  in  order  to  he  acknow¬ 
ledged  by  the  people,  she  granted  them  several 
special  favors.  Recalled  to  Bavaria  by  her  hus¬ 
band,  she  left  her  young  second  son  Willem  to 
govern  Nederland.  A  quarrel  soon  broke  out 
between  mother  and  son,  because  the  latter  had 
promised  to  pay  his  mother  a  certain  sum  of 
money,  but  now  refused.  The  next  year  Mar¬ 
garet  returned  to  Holland,  and  Willem  retired 
into  Hainault,  where  he  kept  up  opposition  and 
irritation.  Around  the  mother  gathered  the  popu¬ 
lar  nobility,  most  of  the  towns,  and  the  humbler 
agricultural  classes.  About  the  son  rallied  the 
richer  nobles  and  the  aristocratic  cities.  Finding 
themselves  so  strong,  and  expectant  of  easy  vic¬ 
tory,  the  men  forming  the  party  of  Willem  called 
themselves  the  Cods. 

Now  in  Dutch  the  cod  is  named  Jcobel-jauw ,  or 
cable-jaw,  because  he  is  one  of  the  most  voracious 
fishes  known,  with  jaws  which  in  strength  are 
like  the  ship’s  cable  or  strong  rope  that  holds  the 
anchor.  Living  in  sea-water  on  banks,  like  those 
of  the  Dogger  in  the  North  Sea,  or  the  Grand 
Banks,  or  “  The  Graveyard”  off  Newfoundland, 
the  codfish  feeds  near  the  bottom.  In  its  power¬ 
ful  jaws,  shell-fish,  crustaceans,  worms,  small  fish, 
mollusks,  are  ground  up  like  grain  between  mill 


102 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


stones.  Occasionally  the  cod  does  not  mind 
swallowing  the  hook  and  running  away  with  it. 
Already,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Dutch 
were  famous  cod-fishers,  and  understood  the  habits 
of  the  cable-jaw  as  well  as  our  Cape  Cod  skippers 
do  now.  Having  the  power,  they  expected  to  de*. 
vour  their  opponents.  They  also  wore  an  azure 
or  gray  headdress  and  were  called  Blue  Caps. 

Yet  the  cods,  because  of  their  very  voracity, 
leap  eagerly  at  the  bait  offered  by  fishermen  and 
are  caught  with  a  hook.  So  the  people’s  party 
at  once  took  the  name  of  the  Hooks,  and  donned 
red  caps.  Ambition,  rage,  jealousy,  now  broke 
loose,  and  fights  and  murder  were  common.  In 
many  towns  the  people  were  divided  against  them¬ 
selves.  Battles  by  land  and  sea  were  common. 
Rotterdam  and  its  region  were  especially  afflicted. 

Margaret  died  and  her  son  went  insane,  but 
the  fight  continued.  Kings  and  queens  inter¬ 
meddled,  all  classes  were  concerned,  and  none 
could  be  neutral.  Down  at  the  bottom,  it  was 
a  struggle  of  the  people  for  greater  freedom. 
Among  the  prominent  figures  in  the  troubles  was 
Jacqueline  of  Bavaria,  whose  story  is  the  theme 
of  so  many  Dutch  poems,  songs,  and  dramas.  The 
scanty  ruins  of  her  castle  we  still  see  in  the  pretty 
town  of  Goes  in  Zeeland.  Besieged  in  Gouda, 
she  had  to  surrender  to  her  cousin,  Philip  of  Bur¬ 
gundy,  a  bad  man  who  was  called  “  the  good,” 
and  who  became  possessor  of  all  Nederland.  Once 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS.  108 

more,  as  under  the  Komans  and  Karel  de  Groote, 
all  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  were  united 
under  one  rule. 

Philip  of  Burgundy  founded  the  Order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage 
with  Isabella  of  Portugal.  His  court  was  a  scene 
of  brilliancy,  and  knights  in  splendid  array  flocked 
from  all  quarters  of  Christendom  to  his  jousts  and 
tourneys.  Under  his  rule,  Burgundy  was  one  of 
the  most  wealthy,  prosperous,  and  tranquil  states 
in  Europe.  He  patronized  literature  and  art,  and 
founded  the  University  of  Louvain.  The  rule  of 
the  house  of  Burgundy  lasted  for  over  a  century. 

The  weaving  industry  of  the  Netherlands  had 
greatly  enriched  the  country,  and  was  now  the 
basis  of  Philip’s  power.  Piety  and  business  were 
combined  in  founding  this  knightly  Order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  to  which  only  twenty-five  persons, 
great  nobles,  kings,  or  emperors  could  belong. 
The  badge  of  membership  was  a  coilarlike  chain 
of  gold  to  which  was  suspended  a  golden  lamb. 
Flemish  wealth,  Burgundian  power,  and  the  gen¬ 
tleness  of  Jesus,  were  symbolized  by  the  lamb 
and  its  fleece  of  gold. 

Just  as  the  golden  codfish  hung  up  beneath 
the  gilded  dome  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
House,  that  flashes  on  Beacon  Hill,  is  an  emblem 
of  the  wealth  which  came  to  the  State  out  of  the 
sea,  so  the  sheep  and  its  wool  are  true  tokens  of 
the  wealth  of  the  Low  Countries.  For  many  cen- 


104 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


turies  the  English  raised  rams  and  ewes,  but  did 
not  know  how  to  weave  cloth.  Exported  across 
the  Channel,  wool  enriched  the  country  and  paid 
for  English  wars  in  France,  Scotland,  and  Ireland. 
A  hag  of  wool  is  the  ancient  emblem  of  English 
wealth,  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England  still 
sits  on  the  woolsack  in  the  House  of  Peers.  In 
the  time  of  Elizabeth,  this  bag  of  wool  or  stuffed 
red  cloth  chair,  was  set  up  as  a  memento  of  the 
act  forbidding  the  export  of  the  annual  crop  raised 
on  sheep’s  backs,  —  the  main  source  of  the  na¬ 
tional  wealth.  The  introduction  of  weaving  and 
cloth-making  into  England  was  the  work  of  the 
Dutch,  who  with  the  Huguenots  laid  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  most  of  England’s  mighty  industries. 

Under  Philip  of  Burgundy  business  thrived 
and  the  country  as  a  whole  grew  richer,  but  this 
“  good  ”  prince  was  a  mighty  perjurer,  and  busied 
himself  in  breaking  promises  and  stamping  out 
Dutch  liberty  by  violating  charters. 

Philip  died  in  1467,  but  the  little  finger  of  his 
son  Charles  the  Bold  proved  to  be  thicker  than 
the  loins  of  his  father.  He  laid  fresh  taxes  on 
the  people,  and  kept  a  standing  army  to  secure 
their  payment.  He  removed  the  supreme  court 
of  Holland  from  the  Hague  to  Mechlin.  The 
earth  was  well  rid  of  a  bad  ruler  when  on  the  5th 
of  January,  1477,  he  was  slain  at  Nancy.  He 
had  been  terribly  defeated  by  the  Swiss  at  Morat, 
on  June  22d,  the  year  before.  The  American  in 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS.  105 


Berne  looks  with  warm  interest  upon  the  old 
swords,  pikes,  flags,  and  other  relics  of  that  deci¬ 
sive  day  which  makes  one  of  the  links  of  history, 
in  which  also  are  Brill  and  Lexington. 

The  death  of  this  conceited  bully,  Charles  the 
Bold,  gave  the  Netherlands  an  opportunity  which 
was  well  improved.  The  King  of  France  seized 
Burgundy,  which  belonged  to  Mary,  the  daughter 
and  heir  of  Charles.  This  made  her  ready  to 
seek  the  aid  of  the  people.  A  general  assembly 
or  parliament  of  all  the  Netherlander s  was  sum¬ 
moned.  This  may  be  called  the  first  congress  or 
national  legislature  of  the  Low  Countries.  All 
parties  were  united  in  the  hope  of  regaining  their 
lost  liberties.  They  met  at  Ghent,  stated  their 
grievances,  devised  means  to  resist  the  King  of 
France,  and  provided  means  to  carry  on  war  if 
necessary,  but  they  refused  to  vote  any  money 
until  their  complaints  were  heard  and  justice 
granted.  Thus  they  laid  down  the  doctrine 
which  in  a  later  century  was  preached  in  America 
against  the  Stamp  Act,  —  no  taxation  without 
consent. 

The  answers  to  these  popular  demands  were 
embodied  in  a  Magna  Charta  entitled  “  het  Groot 
Privilegie.”  This  document  is  one  of  the  foun¬ 
dation  stones  in  the  edifice  of  Dutch  freedom. 
Its  provisions  may  be  thus  summed  up :  the  Great 
Council  and  supreme  court  of  Holland  were  re¬ 
established,  the  Netherlands  congress  was  to  levy 


106 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


taxes,  coin  money,  regulate  manufacture  and  com¬ 
merce,  declare  war,  raise  armies  and  navies.  The 
ancient  liberties  of  the  city  republics  were  fully 
restored.  None  but  natives  could  hold  office. 
Only  the  Dutch  language  was  to  be  used  in  pub¬ 
lic  documents.  The  right  of  trial  in  one’s  own 
province  was  confirmed.  No  command  of  the 
king  was  to  prevail  against  the  town  charters. 
There  was  to  be  no  alteration  of  coinage  without 
consent  of  the  states,  and  no  taxation  without 
representation. 

It  was  for  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this 
Great  Charter  by  Philip  II.,  that  the  Dutch,  in 
1581,  deposed  their  king  and  issued  their  Decla¬ 
ration  of  Independence,  giving  Americans  their 
precedent  and  example  of  July  4,  1776. 

In  this  year,  1477,  so  illustrious  in  Dutch  his¬ 
tory,  the  Bible  was  translated  from  the  Latin  into 
the  language  of  the  people,  and  the  first  Dutch 
Bible  began  its  work  upon  the  popular  mind. 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  Mary  married  the 
Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria,  and  the  Nether¬ 
lands,  for  the  fifth  time,  under  a  new  family,  be¬ 
came  Austrian  property.  When  her  son  Philip 
was  but  four  years  old,  Mary  died  by  falling  from 
a  horse.  In  1489,  as  absolute  guardian  of  his  son, 
Maximilian  ruled  the  Netherlands. 

By  this  time  the  war  of  the  Cods  and  Hooks 
had  broken  out  with  redoubled  violence.  The 
partisans  put  each  other  out  of  office,  fired  each 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS.  107 


others’  houses,  and  even  besieged  and  captured 
cities.  A  score  of  castles  were  destroyed.  The 
Cods  were  exiled  from  the  Hook  towns  of  Rotter¬ 
dam,  Gouda,  and  the  Hague.  No  Hooks  were 
allowed  in  the  Cod  towns  of  Haarlem,  Delft,  Am¬ 
sterdam,  and  Dordrecht.  Duels  and  street  fights 
were  of  daily  occurrence,  families  were  divided, 
and  relatives  murdered  each  other.  Holland, 
where  most  of  the  fighting  took  place,  was  reduced 
to  waste  and  misery. 

Maximilian  first  found  out  that  the  Cods  were 
the  strongest,  and  then  sided  with  them.  After 
heavy  fighting  at  Utrecht,  Delft,  and  Rotterdam, 
the  Hooks  were  subdued  or  driven  out  of  the 
country  by  foreign  troops.  Maximilian  now  took 
the  steps  necessary  to  trample  on  the  liberties  of 
Nederland,  and  make  himself  an  autocrat.  Let 
us  see  how  he  did  this. 

The  Codfish  party  was  composed  largely  of  no¬ 
bles  and  wealthy  citizens  who  had  received  their 
privileges  from  sovereigns,  while  the  more  popu¬ 
lar  Hooks  were  led  mainly  by  the  local  lords,  who 
did  not  like  to  yield  their  old  local  and  feudal  im¬ 
portance.  Between  these  two  sets  of  nobles  were 
the  freemen  and  burghers.  When  Maximilian 
had,  by  the  help  of  large  bodies  of  foreign  mer¬ 
cenaries,  put  down  the  Hooks,  he  began  to  crush 
the  power  of  the  burghers  or  citizens.  He  had 
many  of  them  put  to  death  for  appealing  to  the 
Great  Privilege,  which  he  steadily  ignored. 


108 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


One  of  the  immediate  effects  of  his  heavy  taxa¬ 
tion  and  his  attempts  to  debase  the  coin  of  the 
country,  was  the  “  Bread  and  Cheese  Play,”  and 
bloody  play  it  was.  The  waste  of  provisions  and 
ships  following  the  long  wars,  the  rapacity  of  the 
foreigners,  and  the  loss  in  value  of  the  coin, 
brought  on  famine  and  poverty  to  the  mass  of 
the  people.  When  the  shield-tax,  or  knight- 
money,  was  pressed  on  them  at  the  point  of  the 
spear,  they  rose  by  thousands  in  rebellion.  They 
painted  loaves  of  bread  and  rounds  of  cheese  upon 
their  banners,  and  sewed  bits  of  crust  or  rind 
upon  their  clothes,  to  show  that  they  were  after 
food.  They  preferred  to  lose  blood  and  life 
quickly  in  battle  than  to  die  slowly  by  starvation. 
In  Hoorn  and  Alkmaar,  Haarlem  and  Leyden, 
they  were  especially  numerous,  and  much  intes¬ 
tine  war  was  the  result. 

At  this  time  the  Duke  of  Saxony  governed 
Friesland  as  the  lieutenant  of  Maximilian. 
Marching  his  German  troops  into  Nederland,  the 
brave  but  undisciplined  peasants  were  scattered 
like  chaff.  The  “Casembrot  Spel”  was  over,  and 
the  last  remnants  of  the  Hooks  were  expelled. 
An  echo  of  these  days  is  seen  in  the  name  of  the 
famous  Dutch  Admiral  Casembroot,  who  in  1868 
and  1864,  in  alliance  with  the  British,  French, 
and  Americans,  commanded  the  Dutch  squadron 
at  the  bombardment  of  Shimonoseki,  in  Japan. 

Devoured  by  the  Germans,  crushed  under  heavy 


THE  CODFISHES  AND  THE  FISH-HOOKS.  109 

taxes,  their  charters  trampled  upon  by  the  em¬ 
peror,  the  condition  of  the  poor  Dutchmen  was 
pitiable  indeed.  With  their  liberties  in  eclipse, 
they  had  reached  the  lowest  point  of  misery  known 
for  centuries. 

Nevertheless,  their  sturdy  perseverance  and 
elastic  spirits  were  soon  to  compel  prosperity  once 
more.  In  the  year  that  Columbus  discovered 
America,  peace  reigned  in  Nederland.  In  1496 
two  events  took  place,  one  of  which  had  an  imme¬ 
diately  beneficial,  and  the  other  a  remote  influ¬ 
ence  in  bringing  riches  to  Holland.  The  Grand 
Treaty  of  Commerce  made  with  England  was  joy¬ 
fully  welcomed  by  the  Dutch.  It  at  once  gave 
a  healthful  stimulus  to  fisheries  and  to  trade. 
Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of 
Spain,  was  in  1496  married  to  Philip  the  Fair, 
son  of  Maximilian  of  Austria.  Four  years  later  a 
son  was  born  to  them.  His  name  was  Charles, 
afterwards  known  as  Charles  V.,  Emperor  of  Ger¬ 
many. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Charles  Y.  that  the 
intellect  of  the  Germanic  nations  broke  the  spir¬ 
itual  fetters  of  Rome,  even  as  the  liberator  Her¬ 
mann  had  freed  them  from  the  political  yoke  fif¬ 
teen  centuries  before.  Under  Charles  began  that 
Reformation  whose  end  is  not  yet. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN. 

In  both  the  Burgundian  and  the  Spanish  eras, 
the  Netherlands  formed  the  richest  part  of  the 
domains  of  their  rulers.  Yet  there  were  no  mines, 
gems,  or  pearls  in  the  Low  Countries.  Whence, 
then,  came  the  wealth,  beauty r,  comforts,  and  rich 
revenues  ?  Let  us  see. 

Among  the  crusaders  were  men  of  taste,  who 
loved  beauty  and  were  charmed  with  the  lovely 
things  they  saw  in  the  East.  These  lovers  of 
the  beautiful  brought  back  seeds  either  in  their 
brains,  in  wallets,  or  in  ships’  holds.  Especially 
was  this  true  as  to  flowers  and  fruits.  A  taste 
for  gardening  was  stimulated  among  the  Neder- 
landers,  and  their  part  of  the  earth  received  a 
new  embroidery  of  rich,  natural  colors.  Brilliant 
blooms,  foliage,  and  perfumes,  never  before  seen 
or  enjoyed  in  Europe,  became  common.  After 
the  fall  of  Constantinople,  in  1453,  Holland  grew 
to  be  one  of  the  gayest  garden-lands  of  Europe. 

The  ranunculus,  or  “  little  frog  ”  family  of 
plants,  the  anemones,  tulips,  hyacinths,  narcissus, 
and  others,  were  acclimated,  domesticated,  and 
became  the  Dutchman’s  darlings.  Especially  did 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN.  Ill 

the  bulbous  flowers  of  the  East,  like  the  tulips, 
find  a  congenial  soil  in  Holland.  Indeed,  the  tulip 
not  only  drove  the  serious  Dutchman  mad,  but 
in  the  sixteenth  century  all  the  world  went  wild 
over  the  bulbs  of  the  Haarlem.  Even  to-day,  the 
polders,  or  drained  lands,  left  by  the  pumped-out 
lake  of  Haarlem,  is  the  best  for  bulbs  of  any  land 
in  the  world.  Whereas  in  other  parts  of  Neder¬ 
land  farms  do  not  usually  pay  over  four  per  cent, 
on  the  money  invested,  the  Haarlem  bulb-lands 
yield  a  revenue  of  twelve  per  cent,  per  annum. 
New  varieties  of  these  brilliant  exotics  are  contin¬ 
ually  developed.  One  of  the  latest,  named  the 
Abraham  Lincoln,  is  the  direct  descendant  of  an 
Asiatic  ancestor  brought  westward  three  centuries 
ago. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Obel,  the  botanist  of 
King  J ames  I.  of  England,  published  a  book  on 
the  history  of  plants.  In  it  he  declared  that 
Holland  contained  more  rare  plants  than  any 
other  country  in  Europe.  Thirty-eight  varieties 
of  the  anemone  or  wind-flower,  Dutch  Paasch- 
blcemen  or  Easter-bloom,  were  known. 

Dutch  captains  making  voyages  to  tropical 
countries  were  ordered  to  bring  home  seeds, 
bulbs,  roots,  and  cuttings.  From  their  settle¬ 
ments  in  Brazil,  the  Hudson  River  region,  South 
Africa,  the  Spice  Islands,  Formosa,  Japan,  and 
Asiatic  lands,  many  new  plants  were  introduced 
first  into  Holland,  and  then  into  all  the  gardens 


112 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


of  the  W e stern  world.  Hundreds  of  our  common 
flowers,  trees,  or  vegetables  were  once  oriental 
exotics  which  the  Dutch  chaperoned  and  brought 
out  into  occidental  garden-society. 

Leyden  was  one  of  the  first  cities  in  Europe  to 
establish  botanical  gardens,  and  Haarlem  early 
led  in  the  floriculture  and  horticulture.  Leyden, 
for  over  a  century,  under  the  renowned  Boerhaave, 
was  the  floral  capital  of  Europe.  Here  first 
were  domesticated  varied  children  of  the  gera¬ 
nium  family,  and  the  Eicoideae  with  their  fleshy 
leaves  and  showy  flowers,  and  other  exotics  from 
near  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Amsterdam’s  was 
the  first  garden  in  Europe  to  have  the  coffee- 
tree.  Groningen  and  Utrecht  had  great  hot¬ 
houses.  Noordwyk  was  famous  for  its  roses. 

This  taste  for  flowers,  introduced  at  the  time 
of  the  Crusades,  made  the  Dutch  a  nation  of 
flower-lovers,  skilled  gardeners,  and  inventive 
farmers.  Window-gardening  was  especially  cul¬ 
tivated,  until  to-day  it  is  a  national  passion  and 
habit.  On  the  canal-boat,  in  the  floating  homes 
on  the  inland  rivers,  the  farmhouse,  the  humble 
village,  and  the  great  city,  flowers  are  every¬ 
where. 

The  Dutch  have  always  been  famous  for  quick 
brains  and  active  mental  initiative.  When  their 
own  climate  did  not  agree  with  an  exotic,  they 
made  a  new  climate  that  did.  They  invented  or 
greatly  improved  the  green  or  hot  house.  They 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN.  113 


first  made  use  of  forcing  pits  or  beds  sided  or 
covered  with  boards  or  roofed  with  glass,  by 
which  young  plants  were  early  raised  from  seed 
and  kept  from  frost  and  cold  until  ready  for 
transplanting.  No  fewer  than  six  thousand  ex¬ 
otic  plants  were  catalogued  at  Leyden  during  the 
time  of  Dr.  Boerhaave,  who  by  his  books  or  lec¬ 
tures  trained  most  of  the  famous  doctors  of  Old 
and  New  England  and  of  colonial  New  York. 
This  renowned  physician  taught  the  hot-house 
men  of  Europe  to  adjust  the  slope  of  the  glass 
according  to  the  latitude  so  as  to  get  the  maxi¬ 
mum  power  of  the  sun’s  rays.  One  great  florist 
in  Haarlem  had  four  green-houses,  in  which  he 
kept  the  climates  of  the  Levant,  Africa,  India, 
and  America.  From  Holland  the  science  of  bot¬ 
any  was  carried  to  Sweden.  It  was  at  the  Dutch 
University  of  Harderwyck  that  Linnaeus  obtained 
his  degree,  and  in  Holland  he  wrote  the  books  on 
which  his  fame  rests. 

The  plough  in  its  modern  form,  consisting  of 
several  distinct  parts,  is  a  Dutch  invention.  At 
the  government  agricultural  school  at  Wagenin- 
gen,  one  may  see  the  models  of  several  eras, 
showing  its  steady  evolution  into  the  wonderful 
tool  of  our  day.  Englishman  and  Yankee  have 
made  many  improvements,  but  for  some  genera¬ 
tions  the  Dutch  plough  led  the  world.  Not  a 
few  of  the  more  important  modern  agricultural 
implements  were  invented  by  Dutchmen,  as  their 


114 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


names  in  old  English  works  on  husbandry  clearly 
prove. 

About  the  time  of  the  truce  with  Spain,  from 
1609  to  1620,  the  Hollanders  began  to  drive  a 
good  trade  in  seeds,  bulbs,  and  flowers.  Later 
they  supplied  most  of  the  courts  of  Europe  with 
early  fruits.  They  added  greatly  to  the  daily 
diet  of  civilized  people.  They  introduced  garden 
vegetables  and  the  artificial  grasses  into  Eng¬ 
land.  They  taught  the  eastern  county  folks  how 
to  drain  their  fens  and  raise  two  crops  a  year 
on  the  same  field.  By  the  Dutchman’s  aid  the 
marshy  land  which  raised  sedge  and  malaria, 
and  compelled  two  rabbits  to  fight  for  one  blade 
of  grass,  became  rich  in  turnips,  mutton,  and 
human  beings,  quickly  doubling  in  population 
and  value.  Most  of  the  early  English  books  on 
agriculture  are  by  authors  with  Dutch  names,  or 
with  the  names  more  or  less  Anglicized. 

The  Dutchman’s  country  being  far  north  of 
the  wine  and  oil  line  of  Europe,  and  within  the 
beer  and  butter  line,  he  gave  early  attention  to 
dairy  and  hop-field.  In  all  the  products  of  the 
cow  —  milk,  cream,  butter,  cheese,  meat,  hides,  and 
horns  —  the  Dutchman  led  Europe.  He  did  this 
because  he  studied  soils  and  foods  most  carefully 
and  treated  his  dumb  cattle  as  if  they  were  his 
friends.  To-day,  the  traveler  entering  Holland 
in  chilly  May  notices  cows  and  sheep  blanketed 
while  in  the  pastures.  In  Friesland  he  sees  that 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN.  115 

the  fine  breeds  of  cattle  are  housed  under  the 
same  roof,  though  not  in  the  same  room,  with 
their  masters.  The  dwelling  and  the  stable  are 
near  to  each  other,  entertainment  for  man  and 
beast  being  scrupulously  clean,  and  the  latter 
within  easy  help  of  the  former.  So  much  atten¬ 
tion  was  paid  to  the  “hens  ”  (which  in  old  English, 
as  in  Dutch,  meant  both  sexes),  and  to  eggs  and 
to  butter  making,  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  im¬ 
agined  that  the  Dutch  would  not  fight,  for,  as  he 
thought,  they  were  only  “  men  of  butter.” 

Beer  or  milk  was  the  every-day  drink.  In 
those  early  days,  when  modern  hot  drinks,  tea 
and  coffee,  were  not  known,  the  beer  mug  stood 
on  the  table  by  the  plate  of  every  child  as  well  as 
adult.  The  Dutchmen  first  made  use  of  hops  to 
improve  the  quality  of  beer.  It  was  a  great  day 
when  hops  were  introduced  into  England  from 
the  Netherlands,  and  the  event  was  celebrated 
in  street  songs.  The  Pilgrims  in  the  Mayflower 
were  teetotallers,  of  necessity,  during  their  fa¬ 
mous  voyage,  for  all  their  beer  as  well  as  most  of 
fcheir  butter  had  been  sold  off  to  pay  their  debts 
to  their  harsh  English  creditors.  In  America, 
until  after  the  Revolution,  the  New  Englanders 
could  never  raise  crops  or  stock  like  their  neigh¬ 
bors  west  of  the  Hudson.  The  best  farmers  and 
gardeners,  as  well  as  stock  raisers,  were  the  New 
Netherlanders  or  their  descendants  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware. 


116 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


In  a  word,  that  great  movement  of  European 
humanity  called  the  Crusades,  and  in  which  the 
Dutch  took  a  share,  was  a  powerful  factor  in 
their  development.  Being  bright  in  mind,  quick 
in  observation,  and  active  in  brain,  the  Dutchman 
learned  much,  and  improved  upon  what  he  im* 
ported.  The  festivals  in  honor  of  the  foundation 
of  the  Christian  church  in  a  village,  celebrated 
yearly,  were  called  Kirk-mass  or  Kermis.  On 
these  gay  and  joyful  occasions  the  Dutch  cooks 
exercised  all  their  ingenuity,  and  many  were  the 
novelties  to  tempt  the  palate. 

Buckwheat,  for  example,  had  been  used  for 
ages  in  Asia,  where  in  the  form  of  mush,  por¬ 
ridge,  or  steamed  dough,  it  was  eaten  by  the 
peoples  from  India  to  Japan.  The  Dutch  named 
it  boelcweit ,  from  which  our  English  word  “buck¬ 
wheat”  has  been  corrupted,  because  it  looks  like 
the  beech-mast.  After  many  an  experiment  in 
Dutch  kitchens,  the  luscious  winter  breakfast 
luxury,  which  with  butter  and  maple  syrup  de¬ 
lights  so  many  Americans,  was  evolved. 

One  of  the  direct  results  of  commerce  stimu¬ 
lated  by  the  Crusades  was  the  gingerbread. 
Thick,  spicy,  and  aromatic  cake  was  sold  in  the 
Nederland  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century.  Gilded, 
painted,  whitened  with  egg,  and  cut  into  all  sorts 
of  comical  shapes,  it  was  sold  by  tons  at  the  fair 
and  kermiss.  Our  words  “  cooky  ”  and  “  crul¬ 
ler,”  like  the  honey-cakes  of  Deventer,  muffins, 


HOW  A  MTJB-HOLE  BECAME  A  GABDEN .  117 

and  waffles  are  of  Dutch  origin.  The  poffertjes, 
and  other  products  of  the  hatter-dish  and  oven  or 
toasting-irons,  which  were  first  made  popular  at 
the  Dutch  kermis,  were  imported  into  other  coun¬ 
tries  with  new  names.  Oriental  fruits  and  nuts, 
now  called  by  the  word  wal  or  foreign,  as  in 
walnut,  Walloon,  Wales,  Wallabout  Bay,  etc., 
were,  like  hops,  borrowed  by  English-speaking 
folks  from  their  more  advanced  and  more  highly 
civilized  Dutch  neighbors,  who  vastly  improved 
table  resources.  The  “  Dutch  oven  ”  made  life 
for  the  early  New  Englanders  very  agreeable. 

Next  to  good  food  is  good  clothing.  More  im¬ 
portant  in  its  influence  on  industry  was  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  flax.  This  native  of  Egypt  found  a 
most  congenial  home  in  Nederland.  It  was  p&- 
tiently  studied  by  men  of  science,  and  cultivated 
with  infinite  care  by  the  farmers,  with  their  eyes 
to  its  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  fibre. 
They  were  so  far  successful  that  Flemish  and 
Dutch  flax  soon  had  a  name  all  over  Europe. 
In  India,  as  in  America,  the  plant  had  been  cul¬ 
tivated  for  its  seed,  in  order  to  get  oil,  rather 
than  for  its  fibre,  out  of  which  is  made  linen. 
The  Dutch  from  the  first  paid  attention  to  the 
development  of  the  stalk,  and  aimed  to  secure 
abundant  and  delicate  floss.  Linen  manufacto¬ 
ries  were  established,  and  around  these  a  score  of 
trades  sprang  up.  Spinners  and  spinsters,  web- 
bers  and  websters,  dyers  and  bleachers,  burrelers* 


118 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


hatchelers,  and  lace-makers  are  some  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  names  for  these. 

In  this  new  group  of  industries,  like  a  white 
rose  in  a  bouquet,  which  lights  up  the  whole  com¬ 
position,  appeared  one  that  deserves  the  name  of 
a  fine  art.  Rich  and  delicate  as  are  the  fabrics 
of  the  East,  lace  is  European.  The  nuns  in¬ 
vented  needle-sculpture  or  lace. 

The  stimulus  to  produce  fine  yarn  for  the  lace- 
makers  became  so  great  that  the  flax  produce  of 
the  southern  Netherlands  was  developed  until  it 
was  without  a  rival.  In  some  instances  the  crop 
was  so  precious  that  in  one  year  it  exceeded  the 
value  of  the  ground  on  which  it  grew.  The  cul¬ 
tivation  of  the  new  Oriental  flowers  afforded 
novel  patterns  for  the  lace-makers.  While  the 
cathedral  builders  and  abbey  masons  made  the 
stone  blossom  under  the  chisel,  and  reared  spires 
and  tracery  that  were  like  the  gossamer  of  spiders, 
the  nuns  wrought  with  the  needle  and  produced 
the  loveliest  works  of  art  in  lace.  These  women 
of  taste  and  skill  did  not  merely  copy  flowers 
and  spider  webs,  but  wrought  out  new  forms  and 
most  tasteful  combinations.  The  art,  which  prob¬ 
ably  arose  in  Italy,  was  quickly  transferred  to 
the  Netherlands. 

The  oldest  form  of  this  art  industry  is  seen  in 
point  lace,  in  which  fairy-like  webs  are  woven  by 
the  needle  over  foundation  pieces  of  linen.  Ex¬ 
actly  how  this  old  point  lace  was  made  is  not  cer< 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN.  119 


tainly  known,  for  the  special  art  was  lost  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Yet  the  durability  of  the 
work  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  many  pieces  of  true 
point  lace  yet  remain  in  Europe.  The  later 
kinds,  though  still  very  expensive,  are  less  artis¬ 
tic.  In  the  first  or  inventive  period,  the  designer 
and  the  worker  were  one,  but  later  the  worker 
was  usually  a  copyist.  After  the  needle-wrought 
lace  came  the  pillow-worked  or  bobbin  lace,  and, 
last  of  all,  in  our  day,  the  machine-made  lace, 
when  all  classes  can  wear  it,  because  all  purses 
can  afford  to  buy  it. 

In  Italy  and  the  Netherlands,  the  two  coun¬ 
tries  in  which  painting  and  flowers  were  most 
cultivated,  lace-making  reached  its  acme  of  pro¬ 
ficiency.  Where  the  canvas  first  bloomed  with 
colors  laid  on  in  oil,  there  the  parterres  and  the 
flax  fields  were  richest  and  lace  most  lovely.  The 
Dutch  invented  the  thimble,  thus  reinforcing  the 
application  of  the  needle  and  of  linen  to  a  thou¬ 
sand  needs  of  life.  The  names  we  still  use  for 
the  various  fabrics  and  patterns,  cambric  from 
Cambrai,  diaper  from  d’Apres,  and  various  places 
in  the  Netherlands,  show  their  geographical  origin. 

The  inventions  of  the  shirt,  nightdress,  bed- 
tick,  pocket  handkerchief,  tablecloth,  napkin, 
most  of  them  in  the  thirteenth  century  and  of 
Netherlandish  origin,  are  landmarks  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  European  civilization.  The  use  and  ap¬ 
plication  of  starch,  also  a  Dutch  invention,  was 


120 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


introduced  in  England  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  but  Dutch  weavers  had  been  brought 
over  as  early  as  1253.  Most  of  the  old  names  of 
woolen,  hempen,  flaxen,  and  cotton  goods  come 
from  the  Low  Countries.  Even  our  word  “  tick  ” 
in  bedtick  is  only  a  mispronunciation  of  the  Dutch 
dehhen ,  to  cover.  It  was  a  decided  advance  in 
household  economy,  in  cleanliness,  and  in  hygiene 
when  the  bed  was  lifted  up  from  the  floor  and 
made  snowy  with  linen  and  glorious  with  a  can¬ 
opy.  In  the  evolution  of  the  modern  bed,  no 
people  have  contributed  more  than  the  sedentary 
and  home-loving  Dutch.  In  the  land  where  art 
first  glorified  domestic  life,  they  studied  health, 
cleanliness,  and  comfort,  until  a  love  for  these 
became  a  passion. 

At  first,  linen  sheets,  pillow  and  bolster  cases, 
pocket  handkerchiefs,  and  shirts  were  luxuries, 
and  only  for  kings  and  nobles.  Even  then,  the 
inventory  or  washing  list  of  a  queen  or  emperor 
in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  would 
make  a  Chinese  laundryman  laugh  because  of  its 
scantiness.  Instead  of  being  fine  and  snow-white, 
the  first  shirt  was  probably  rough  and  dark- 
colored.  The  problem  was  to  make  linen  white. 

The  Dutch  raised  bleaching  to  the  dignity  of  a 
fine  art.  They  persevered  until  the  name  “  Hol¬ 
lands  ”  all  over  Europe  meant  “  finest  linen,  white 
as  snow.”  Eight  months  were  required  to  secure 
the  purest  white.  The  tedious  process  consisted 


HOW  A  MUD-HOLE  BECAME  A  GARDEN.  121 

in  spreading  out  the  web  or  sheets  of  linen  on 
the  grass  or  bleaching  ground,  and  wetting  it 
several  times  a  day.  The  grounds  around  Haar¬ 
lem  were  especially  fitted  for  this  process.  They 
often  looked  as  if  a  snow-storm  had  whitened  the 
earth.  The  old  paintings  show  how  much  land 
was  thus  occupied.  Some  virtue  in  the  water, 
probably  its  power,  in  connection  with  the  sea  air, 
of  liberating  ozone,  in  addition  to  the  energy  of 
the  sun’s  rays,  was  supposed  to  hold  the  secret 
of  success.  Much  linen  woven  in  Great  Britain 
was  sent  to  Nederland  to  be  blanched.  When 
sold  at  home  it  was  marked  “  finest  Hollands.” 

It  was  not  until  1785,  when  a  French  chemist 
discovered  chlorine  and  the  virtues  of  bleaching 
powder,  that  the  time  and  space  required  in  the 
old  process  were  saved,  and  the  Dutch  fields  be¬ 
came  green  again.  The  old  Dutch  family  names 
of  Bleeker,  Mangeier,  and  all  the  varieties  of 
De  Witt,  de  Witte,  de  Witt,  etc.,  like  the  Eng¬ 
lish  Dwight,  Walker,  Webster,  etc.,  are  monuments 
of  the  long  bygone  days  when  the  trades  of  the 
bleacher,  the  smoother,  and  the  whiten  er  flour¬ 
ished.  The  latter  tell  of  those  occupations  from 
which  our  English  fathers  so  generally  received 
their  names,  while  the  Dutch,  on  the  contrary, 
took  theirs  largely  from  places,  landmarks,  and 
natural  objects  in  the  scenery.  It  was  not  until 
the  fifteenth  century  that  family  names  were  in 
use  in  northern  Europe. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 


INTELLECTUAL  MOVEMENTS  IN  NEDERLAND. 

The  sixteenth  century,  on  which  Charles  Y. 
opened  his  eyes,  seemed  to  those  who  lived  in  it 
the  most  wonderful  of  all  in  Christian  time.  Yet 
the  fifteenth  century,  which  had  also  been  prolific 
of  events,  brought  in  a  new  world  of  thought. 

Among  these  events  were  printing,  the  general 
use  of  gunpowder,  the  dispersion  of  the  Greek 
scholars  throughout  Europe,  and  the  revelation  of 
a  western  continent  by  Columbus  and  the  Cabots. 
These  events  enlarged  the  horizon  of  man’s  know¬ 
ledge  to  an  extent  dangerous  to  those  who  mis¬ 
ruled  by  pretended  divine  right. 

Especially  was  the  discovery  of  America  a  gift 
to  the  imagination.  It  doubled  men’s  ideas  of  the 
size  and  importance  of  the  earth.  The  practical 
knowledge  which  came  in  with  the  Crusades  had 
destroyed  much  of  the  former  mystery  and  igno¬ 
rance,  and  had  also  greatly  widened  men’s  thoughts. 
Yet  to  the  minds  of  devout  scholars,  the  Greek 
New  Testament,  rising  as  by  a  resurrection,  was 
an  equally  important  gift.  The  marvelous  liter¬ 
ature  of  the  classic  world  also  touched  and  fed 
the  imagination.  It  was  like  the  refilling  of  a 


INTELLECTUAL  MOVEMENTS. 


123 


lamp  with  fresh  oil  wherever  the  Greek  refugees 
settled.  In  every  country  learned  men,  who  had 
hitherto  possessed  only  the  Latin  or  Vulgate  Bi¬ 
ble,  were  now  able  to  discover  how  imperfect  and 
how  often  in  the  interest  of  the  church  it  had  been 
corrupted.  In  almost  every  instance,  the  impor¬ 
tant  corrections  necessary  to  be  made  in  the  text, 
on  account  of  the  Greek  New  Testament,  were  to 
the  detriment  of  the  papal  and  priestly  claims. 

Even  more  potent  for  the  making  of  a  new 
world  of  ideas  was  the  application  of  the  art  of 
printing.  This  art,  like  all  the  religions,  and 
most  of  the  arts  and  inventions  that  have  bene¬ 
fited  Europe,  was  the  gift  of  Asia,  but  in  this  in¬ 
stance  of  far  eastern  Asia.  Printing  is  usually 
called  a  European  “  invention.”  The  Germans 
and  most  writers  say  it  was  Guttenberg,  at  May- 
ence,  in  1434,  who  first  used  movable  types  and 
about  1450  printed  books.  The  Dutch  claim  that 
Laurens  J anszoon,  of  Haarlem,  whose  father  was 
the  coster  or  sexton  of  the  church  in  Haarlem, 
first  discovered  “  the  art  preservative  of  all  arts.” 
In  the  market-place  fronting  the  great  house  of 
worship  stands  a  statue  of  Coster  erected  in  1856. 
He  stands  holding  a  little  leaden  type  in  his  hand. 
Between  the  Dutch  and  Germans  a  violent  con¬ 
troversy,  with  many  others  joining  in,  has  been 
going  on  for  generations  as  to  who  was  the  real 
inventor  of  printing.  Yet  the  question  is  still 
open,  and  as  far  from  settlement  as  ever.  Men 


124 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


who  have  spent  their  lives  in  searching  cannot 
name  the  first  European  printer. 

Yet  this  we  know,  printing  with  blocks  is  in 
China  as  old  as  the  eighth  century.  Movable 
types  had  been  known  and  used  in  the  kingdom 
of  Korea  more  than  a  century  before  they  were 
heard  of  in  Europe.  There  are  thousands  of 
books  in  the  libraries  of  the  far  East  —  and  some 
have  been  collected  and  deposited  in  the  British 
Museum  —  which  were  certainly  printed  with 
movable  types  before  either  Coster  or  Gutenberg 
was  born. 

It  was  shortly  after  the  Mongol  Tartars,  with 
their  great  army  of  Mongols,  Chinese,  and  Kore¬ 
ans,  burst  into  Europe,  sacking  Moscow  in  1382, 
that  we  find  block  printing  employed  in  Germany 
and  Nederland.  In  the  Dutch  monasteries,  print¬ 
ing  of  both  text  and  illustration  with  these  blocks 
was  common  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
The  business  of  wood  engraving  and  of  printing 
was  originally  one  and  the  same.  Print  was  at 
first  made  to  look  as  much  like  writing  as  pos¬ 
sible. 

It  is  very  probable  that  we  owe  the  invention 
of  printing,  both  by  blocks  and  movable  types,  to 
the  Far-Easterns.  What  the  Europeans  did  was 
simply  to  improve  on  the  Korean  system  by  using 
lead  and  antimony  in  place  of  wood,  and  casting 
the  types  in  matrices. 

Almost  as  necessary  as  printing  to  the  spread 


INTELLECTUAL  MOVEMENTS. 


125 


of  knowledge  was  the  invention  of  paper,  made 
from  linen  rags,  which  soon  became  vastly  cheaper 
than  skins.  Books  written  by  a  pen  on  parchment 
were  so  very  costly  that  poor  men  could  not  think 
of  owning  them.  They  had  to  be  chained  to  the 
reading-desks  to  prevent  their  being  stolen.  Not 
only  Bibles,  but  all  important  books,  were  thus 
secured.  In  the  church  of  Zutphen,  one  of  these 
scriptoriums,  or  writing  and  reading  rooms,  still 
holds  its  chained  treasures  of  leather  and  paper. 
Linen  or  rag  paper  was  probably  first  made  in 
Germany  in  1319,  and  the  first  paper  was  made, 
and  the  first  paper-mill  in  England  was  set  up,  by 
a  Dutchman  at  Dartford  in  1590.  The  first  pa¬ 
per-mill  in  America,  on  the  Wissahickon  Creek 
near  Philadelphia,  in  1690,  was  also  the  work  of 
Dutchmen. 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  Dutchmen’s 
part  in  the  first  use  or  invention  of  printing,  one 
thing  is  certain,  the  Netherlands  soon  became  the 
chief  printing-office  of  Europe.  While  playing- 
cards,  romances,  the  story  of  “  Beynard  the  Eox,” 
and  the  “  Mirror  of  Human  Salvation  ”  were 
turned  off  the  presses  for  the  common  people,  the 
Latin  and  Greek  classics  were  edited  and  printed 
for  the  scholars.  The  Bible  was  translated  into 
Dutch  and  published  in  1477,  later  becoming 
so  cheap  that  even  poor  men  could  buy  a  copy. 
To  show  how  far  the  Dutch  were  in  advance  of 
the  English  in  this  respect,  it  is  probable  that  as 


126 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


many  as  twenty-four  editions  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  and  fifteen  editions  of  the  Bible  had  been 
printed  and  published  in  the  Netherlands  before 
one  copy  of  either  the  New  Testament  or  the  Bible 
was  printed  in  England. 

It  was  a  dangerous  thing  for  the  sort  of  kings 
and  emperors  who-ruled  by  divine  right  in  the  six¬ 
teenth  century,  when  the  common  people  got  hold 
of  the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue.  No  wonder 
that  kings  and  priests  opposed  its  being  put  in 
the  vulgar  tongue.  Men  who  could  read  the 
books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles,  and  thus  find  out 
what  worthless  men  and  women  so  many  of  the 
royal  personages  of  Israel  were,  were  not  inclined 
to  an  increase  of  reverence  for  the  kings  to  whom 
they  had  to  pay  heavy  taxes.  With  such  a  touch¬ 
stone  of  religion  in  their  hands,  the  claims  of  the 
ecclesiastics  showed  as  brass,  while  true  and  unde¬ 
filed  holiness  and  salvation  were  seen  to  be  within 
the  reach  of  all.  The  Bible  in  their  own  tongue 
made  new  morning  in  mind  and  heart. 

With  the  revival  of  learning  came  further  light 
through  education.  Already  in  Nederland  famous 
schools,  established  under  Karel  de  Groote,  had 
been  kept  alive,  and  their  light  shone  steadily 
during  five  centuries.  Others  had  sprung  up,  and 
among  them  were  those  of  Dordrecht  in  1290 ; 
Gravesende,  1322 ;  Leyden,  1324 ;  Rotterdam, 
1328 ;  Schiedam,  1336 ;  Delft,  1342 ;  Hoorn, 
1358 ;  Haarlem,  1389 ;  and  Alkmaar,  1390. 


INTELLECTUAL  MOVEMENTS. 


127 


Next  to  Italy,  the  Nederland  in  the  fourteenth 
century  led  in  the  number  of  her  schools  for  the 
people. 

In  1340,  at  Deventer,  there  was  born  a  man, 
Gerhard  Groote,  who  was  to  found  the  famous 
Brotherhood  of  the  Common  Life,  with  its  won¬ 
derful  schools,  out  of  which  were  to  issue  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  Zerbolt,  Gansevoort,  and  Erasmus. 
The  first  wrote  a  little  book,  “  The  Imitation  of 
Christ,”  which,  after  the  Bible,  has  been  more 
widely  read  and  translated  than  any  other  work. 
Its  chief  effect  was  to  show  how  useless  in  true 
religion  are  the  devices  outside  of  the  soul.  Zer¬ 
bolt  argued  for  the  Bible  in  the  people’s  tongue. 
Gansevoort,  by  his  philosophy,  knowledge  of  Greek 
and  scriptural  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the  church, 
3vas  a  true  forerunner  of  the  Reformation.  Eras¬ 
mus,  the  father  of  Biblical  criticism,  was  first  in 
time  before,  and  next  in  power  to  Luther,  the 
promoter  of  the  Protestant  movement. 

Gerhard  Groote  preached  so  plainly  the  religion 
that  is  independent  of  priests  and  church  despot¬ 
ism  that  his  license  was  revoked  by  his  superiors. 
He  then  *  opened  a  private  school  and  began  the 
copying  and  multiplication  of  books.  The  great 
lawyer  Florentius  protected  him  from  persecution. 
Encouraged  by  his  success,  Groote  revived  many 
of  the  schools  founded  by  the  Emperor  Karel  and 
his  son  Lewis,  which  the  monks  and  priests  had 
suffered  to  fall  into  decay.  To  the  schools  at 


128 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Deventer,  Zwolle,  Groningen,  Alkmaar,  Oude- 
water,  Stavoren,  Utrecht,  and  other  places  in  Ne¬ 
derland,  young  men  flocked,  eager  for  knowledge. 
From  the  first  these  schools  were  very  popular 
with  the  citizens,  who  vied  with  each  other  in  help¬ 
ing  to  support  teachers  and  scholars.  Families 
gladly  boarded  the  poor  students  without  cost, 
even  laborers  and  mechanics  yielding  up  a  room 
to  needy  youth.  The  anecdotes  and  incidents 
preserved  in  the  histories  of  the  schools  of  the 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  show  how  deeply  this 
educational  movement  was  rooted  in  the  hearts  of 
the  common  people.  They  saw  in  the  life  of  Groote 
and  his  companions  a  spirit  quite  the  contrary  of 
those  who  in  God’s  name  lorded  it  over  his  herit¬ 
age.  These  brethren,  instead  of  begging  like  other 
friars,  worked  with  their  hands,  earned  their  own 
living,  and  dignified  labor.  Hence  the  honor  in 
which  they  were  held  by  the  common  people. 

Worn  out  with  his  noble  labors,  Gerhard 
Groote  died  at  the  age  of  forty-five,  but  his  he¬ 
roic  spirit  lived  on  in  his  successors,  who  raised 
up  a  generation  of  Christian  patriots  in  Neder¬ 
land.  These  men,  full  of  hope  for  the  future, 
fond  of  books,  and  with  minds  well  trained,  hungry 
for  that  food  for  the  soul  which  miracle  plays  and 
lives  of  the  saints  could  not  supply,  furnished  the 
intellectual  stamina  for  the  great  struggle  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  In  that  struggle,  giant  Spain, 
representing  feudalism,  chivalry,  romance,  and 


INTELLECTUAL  MOVEMENTS.  129 

Rome,  was  to  be  humbled  by  brave  little  Holland, 
that  stood  for  the  rights  of  the  people. 

The  pupils  and  followers  of  Groote  became  the 
best  teachers  of  Europe.  They  multiplied  the 
Greek  and  Latin  classics,  making  these  the  basis 
of  their  culture.  They  were  among  the  first  to 
introduce  the  teaching  of  Greek  in  the  schools. 
The  reading  of  the  old  struggles  for  freedom  in 
the  ancient  republics  was  not  favorable  to  the 
continuance  of  political  despotism.  The  exhilara¬ 
tion  of  mind  induced  by  familiarity  with  the  free 
thoughts  and  perfect  models  of  form  in  the  classics 
did  not  make  obedience  to  priests  and  cardinals 
very  easy.  The  Deventer  school  became  re¬ 
nowned  for  its  excellent  text-books,  some  of  which 
were  adopted  in  England.  From  time  to  time 
their  leading  schoolmasters  traveled  into  Italy, 
bringing  back  fresh  ideas  and  the  fire  that  was 
kindling  there.  They  were  from  the  first  friendly 
to  printing,  and  made  good  use  of  it. 

The  best  work  done  by  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life  was  done  on  lines  for  which  they 
received  little  credit.  They  created  in  the  various 
city-republics  in  which  they  dwelt  a  taste  for 
knowledge  among  the  burghers.  These  citizens 
began  to  demand  that  there  should  be  not  only 
schools  sustained  by  the  fraternities,  monastery 
schools  and  private  schools,  but  also  public  schools 
sustained  by  taxation.  Such  public  schools,  sup¬ 
ported  by  taxes  paid  into  the  public  treasury,  were 


130  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 

free  to  the  children  of  the  poor,  but  to  those  of 
the  well-to-do  burghers  a  small  sum  was  charged. 
Holland  led  Europe  in  a  system  of  free  public 
schools,  and  those  in  Leyden  were  already  centu¬ 
ries  old  when  the  founders  of  Massachusetts  dwelt 
in  that  fair  and  goodly  city. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


ERASMUS  AND  THE  HERETICS. 

A  great  event  in  the  world’s  history  was  the 
birth  in  Rotterdam,  October  28, 1467,  of  a  Dutch 
baby  boy,  Gerrit  Gerritz.  The  name  means  the 
son  of  Gerrit,  s  or  z  at  the  end  of  a  Dutch  name, 
as  in  Maarten  Maartens,  means  son,  one  letter 
being  the  short  form  for  the  several  letters  in 
sen  or  zoon ,  for  son.  When  the  boy  grew  up, 
he  followed  the  fashion  of  so  many  scholars,  and 
turned  his  name  into  more  or  less  correct  Latin 
and  Greek,  and  wrote  it  Desiderius  Erasmus. 
The  word  means  desired  or  loved. 

It  was  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  cathedral 
in  Rotterdam,  in  Wide  Church  Street,  at  No.  3, 
and  now  marked  with  a  little  statue  and  inscrip¬ 
tion,  that  Erasmus  was  born.  When  ten  years 
old,  the  little  Rotterdamer  was  sent  to  Deventer 
and  entered  one  of  the  schools  of  the  Brethren 
of  the  Common  Life.  After  two  years  he  went 
to  Hertogenbosch.  Here  an  attempt  was  made 
to  get  him  to  take  monkish  vows.  Fortunately 
for  civilization  and  Christianity,  he  refused,  and 
went  first  to  Arnhem,  and  then,  in  1492,  to  Paris, 
as  a  free  student.  In  that  great  city  he  worked 


132 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


hard  in  the  mastery  of  Greek.  He  was  then 
invited  to  Cambridge,  lived  in  England  a  while, 
made  a  literary  journey  to  Rome,  declined  the 
Pope’s  offers,  and  came  back  to  England,  where 
he  wrote  a  book  called  the  “  Praise  of  Folly.” 
In  this  he  exposed  all  kinds  of  fools,  especially 
those  in  the  church,  not  even  sparing  the  Pope. 
In  his  “  Colloquia  ”  he  attacks  violently  monks, 
cloister  life,  festivals,  pilgrimages,  and  other 
things  which  pass  for  true  religion,  but  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  In  1514  he  returned  to 
the  Continent  and  died  at  Basle  in  1536.  A 
giant  in  learning,  and  the  literary  king  of  Chris¬ 
tendom,  petted  by  sovereigns,  honored  in  many 
countries,  and  reading  many  tongues,  he  spoke 
only  Latin  and  his  mother’s  tongue,  his  native 
Dutch,  which  he  loved  so  dearly. 

Erasmus  was  neither  a  Roman  Catholic  nor  a 
Protestant,  but  he  believed  in  reforming  the 
church.  He  forged  the  weapons  used  by  the 
Anabaptists,  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  common 
people,  but  he  was  himself  averse  to  enthusiasm. 
He  opened  ancient  literature  and  stimulated 
Europeans  to  love  the  beautiful,  the  true,  and  the 
good.  He  wrote  many  books,  but  his  greatest 
work  was  in  making  a  correct  text  of  the  Greek 
Testament.  This  he  translated  into  elegant 
Latin,  which  was  not  only  superior  to,  but  widely 
different  from  the  Vulgate.  Scholars  everywhere 
enjoyed  it,  and  used  it  as  a  basis  for  transla- 


ERASMUS  AND  THE  HERETICS.  133 


tion.  Soon  in  many  countries  they  were  busy 
at  putting  the  Bible  into  the  common  languages 
of  Europe.  The  printers  kept  at  the  elbows  of 
the  scholars.  The  printing-presses  turned  off 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  vernacular 
Bibles.  The  results  of  putting  the  Bible  into  the 
hands  and  minds  of  the  peoples  was  first  a  new 
Europe  and  then  the  United  States  of  America. 

No  one  rejoiced  more  in  the  wide  diffusion  of 
the  Scriptures  than  Erasmus.  He  loved  the  Bible 
as  literature,  and  wanted  every  plough-boy  and 
sailor  to  own  a  copy.  A  few  years  after  the  great 
scholar  had  died,  the  people  of  his  native  city, 
Rotterdam,  erected  a  wooden  statue  of  him  in 
the  market-place.  When  the  Spanish  soldiers,  in 
whose  country  the  books  of  Erasmus  had  been 
publicly  burned,  saw  this  image  of  the  heretic, 
they  riddled  it  with  bullets  as  if  it  were  a  stuffed 
Judas.  In  1572  the  Rotterdammers  again  set  up 
the  statue,  this  time  in  blue  stone.  In  1622  a 
nobler  effigy  in  bronze  was  reared.  The  town 
which  gave  him  birth  gave  him  second  life,  and 
poems  written  in  ink  were  graven  in  stone.  To¬ 
day,  Erasmus,  book  in  hand,  still  seems  to  be  tran¬ 
quilly  reading,  paying  no  heed  to  the  twittering 
of  the  birds  that  play  around  his  head,  and  seem¬ 
ingly  enjoying  life  amid  the  roar  of  the  great  city. 

With  men’s  mind  thus  fermenting,  schools  dot¬ 
ting  Nederland,  thousands  of  houses  containing 
Bibles,  a  people  made  serious,  patient,  and  brave 


134 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


by  a  thousand  years  of  struggle  with  the  sea, 
ready  to  bear  many  wrongs  patiently,  but  not 
everything,  a  conflict  with  Spain  and  all  she 
represented  was  certain.  Charles  V.  was  to  find 
Nederland  a  different  country  from  what  his 
Spanish  nurses  and  kinsmen  would  have  him 
believe.  Charles  was  made  king  of  Spain  one 
year  before,  and  elected  emperor  of  Germany  two 
years  after  Luther  nailed  his  theses  to  the  church 
door  at  Wittenberg.  When,  in  1529,  those  who 
believed  and  felt  with  Luther  “ protested”  against 
the  act  of  the  Diet  of  Spires,  at  which  Charles 
presided,  they  were  called  “  Protestants.”  The 
name  soon  came  to  be  a  general  term  for  all 
those  Christians  who  believed  in  freedom  of  con¬ 
science  and  the  right  of  private  judgment  in 
studying  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Yet  it  was  neither  Lutherans  nor  Calvinists 
who  began  the  Reformation  in  Nederland.  Those 
reformers  first  recognized  as  respectable  were 
called  Erasmians,  yet  it  was  not  the  followers  of 
Erasmus  who  first  of  all  led  the  revolt  against 
priestcraft,  political  churches,  and  the  whole  ar¬ 
ray  of  dogmas  that  lie  at  the  foundations  of  both 
the  Greek  and  the  Roman  Catholic  systems.  The 
dogmas  especially  hated  by  Americans  are  the 
mixing  of  politics  with  religion,  or  the  union  of 
church  and  state,  the  employment  of  the  sword 
and  public  treasury  to  maintain  the  tenets  of  one 
sect,  and  the  right  to  tax  men  to  support  priests 


ERASMUS  AND  THE  HERETICS.  135 

or  parsons.  What  we  Americans  hate  were  ex* 
actly  what  the  heretics,  particularly  the  Anabap¬ 
tists,  hated  long  ago. 

The  Nederlanders  who  first  claimed  the  right 
of  free  reading  and  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
demanded  the  separation  of  the  church  and  state, 
and  filled  their  country  full  of  ideas  hostile  to  all 
state  churches,  were  called  the  Anabaptists,  or  re- 
baptizers,  because  they  believed  in  the  baptism  of 
adults  only,  and  usually  by  immersion. 

The  Anabaptists  were  not  without  predecessors. 
The  Waldensians  and  Albigenses  from  Italy  and 
France  had  come  into  Nederland,  the  former  in 
considerable  numbers  as  traders,  weavers,  and 
mechanics.  They  and  every  one  else  who  re¬ 
nounced  the  authority  of  the  Pope  were  called 
44  heretics.”  Often  they  were  severe  in  morals, 
stern  in  manner,  and  at  some  points  were  as  fa¬ 
natical  as  churchmen.  Taking  the  name  Kathari, 
or  Puritans,  a  name  which  the  Dutch,  corrupted 
into  44  Ketters,”  they  overran  the  Netherlands. 
Thence  they  made  their  way  into  England,  espe¬ 
cially  in  those  eastern  counties  out  of  which  later 
came  four  fifths  of  the  settlers  of  New  England. 
As  the  Lollards,  they  were  followers  of  Wiclif, 
the  Englishman  who  translated  the  Bible  before 
the  days  of  the  printing-press,  and  who  taught 
that  44  dominion  is  founded  on  grace.”  In  the 
Nederland  the  Ketters  were  hunted  down  by  the 
bloodhounds  of  the  church,  and  in  the  name  of 


136 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Christ  service  was  done  to  the  great  religious  cor* 
poration  called  the  church,  which  killed  the  bod¬ 
ies  and  claimed  to  deliver  over  to  eternal  ruin  the 
souls  of  men.  In  spite  of  all  the  tortures  and 
murders,  the  Ketters  lived  on. 

As  the  Ketters  were  the  spiritual  ancestors  of 
the  Anabaptists,  so  are  the  latter  true  fathers  of 
the  English  Independents  and  American  Congre- 
gationalists,  of  the  English-speaking  Baptists  and 
the  Friends  or  Quakers.  The  Anabaptists  leav¬ 
ened  Nederland  with  their  doctrines,  and  taught 
the  common  people,  before  either  Lutherans  or 
Calvinists  were  numerous  or  influential  or  re¬ 
spectable.  Drowned  like  blind  kittens  in  Austria, 
burned  in  England  until  firewood  became  dear, 
slaughtered  like  sheep  before  dogs  in  Germany, 
hunted  down  like  runaway  slaves  in  the  morasses 
of  Friesland  by  Spanish  minions,  outlawed  by 
every  state  church  in  Europe,  Protestant  as  well 
as  Catholic,  the  Anabaptists  first  found  toleration 
in  Holland  under  William  the  Silent.  State 
churchmen  have  exaggerated  their  heresy,  their 
faults,  and  vices.  The  episode  of  Munster  has 
been  made  a  household  tale,  but  they  have  failed 
to  tell  us  of  the  beautiful  Christian  lives,  of  their 
noble  devotion,  of  their  Christian-like  spirit,  of 
those  humble  people  of  God.  The  Dutch  Ana¬ 
baptists  helped  mightily  to  prepare  the  soil  out  of 
which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
the  more  charitable  religion  of  to-day  grew. 


ERASMUS  AND  THE  HERETICS.  137 

Though  some  of  the  Dutch  Anabaptists  com¬ 
mitted  offensive  actions  and  joined  the  uprising 
at  Munster,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  them 
were  peaceable,  quiet,  non-resistant  folk.  They 
were  organized,  educated,  and  elevated  by  Menno 
Simons,  who  was  born  in  1492,  and  in  1531  was 
a  priest  in  his  native  village  of  Witmarsum. 
Here,  in  1535,  about  three  hundred  men,  women, 
and  children,  fleeing  from  Munster,  intrenched 
themselves  in  an  old  cloister.  On  the  7th  of 
April  they  were  overpowered  by  the  military  and 
most  of  them  drowned.  Impressed  by  the  bru¬ 
tality  of  churchmen  who  could  thus  slaughter 
mothers  and  children,  Menno  Simons  renounced 
the  Roman  form  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  be¬ 
came  an  “  Anabaptist.”  Until  his  death  in  1559, 
he  spent  his  time  in  .teaching  and  preaching  the 
doctrines  which  seemed  to  him  more  in  accord 
with  the  teachings  of  Christ  than  those  which  had 
been  taught  him  in  his  youth.  He  made  many 
converts  all  over  Europe,  and  escaped  all  the 
plots  of  his  would-be  murderers.  The  burden  of 
his  teaching  was  a  holy  life  in  opposition  to  world¬ 
liness. 

To  this  day  the  “  Mennonites  ”  in  the  various 
countries  of  Europe  are  peaceable,  quiet,  moral, 
devout,  industrious.  In  Nederland  most  of  them 
are  cultured,  wealthy,  and  the  best  of  citizens. 
William  Penn  found  in  the  Dutch  Mennonites 
congenial  souls,  and  invited  them  to  settle  largely 


138 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


in  Pennsylvania.  They  did  so,  and  to-day  are 
among  the  best  citizens  of  the  Keystone  State. 
There  are  tens  of  thousands  more  in  the  United 
States.  On  the  18th  of  February,  1688,  in  their 
meeting-house  at  Germantown,  near  Philadelphia, 
these  Dutch  Mennonites  raised  the  first  ecclesias¬ 
tical  protest  against  slavery  ever  spoken  or  written 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  They 
thus  set  the  ball  rolling  which,  in  the  Emancipa¬ 
tion  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln,  became 
the  avalanche  which  forever  destroyed  slavery  in 
our  free  republic. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES. 

Following  the  Anabaptists,  in  the  order  of 
time,  were  the  men  who  adopted  the  views  of 
Erasmus,  then  those  who  followed  Luther,  and 
finally  those  who  accepted  the  logical  formulas  of 
Calvin.  The  sale  of  indulgences  was  a  fruitful 
occasion  for  the  outburst  of  wrath  against  the 
agents  of  Rome,  while  the  immoral  lives  of  the 
priests  furnished  good  targets  for  the  scorn  of 
the  satirists. 

The  Emperor  Charles  Y.  foolishly  imagined 
that  the  Dutch  heretics  could  be  stamped  out  by 
proclamations.  He  had  the  Pope’s  bull  against 
Luther  published  in  Nederland.  Without  asking 
the  consent  of  the  states,  as  he  was  bound  to  do, 
he  forbade  the  printing  of  lampoons  on  the  Pope 
or  priests,  or  any  discussion  of  matters  of  faith. 
Heretics  were  to  be  punished  with  death.  The 
next  year  he  forbade  the  study  of  the  Bible,  well 
knowing  that  a  translation  of  Luther’s  version 
had  appeared  at  Amsterdam.  Legend  has  it  that 
the  printing-office  in  which  this  Bible  was  made 
was  on  the  site  of  the  present  Bible  Hotel.  On 
September  15,  1525,  Pistorius,  a  learned  priest 


140 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


who  had  studied  the  Bible  and  married  a  wife, 
was  burned  to  ashes  at  the  Hague.  He  was  the 
first  Protestant  martyr  in  Nederland.  Dressed 
in  a  yellow  tunic,  and  with  a  fool’s  cap  on  his 
head,  he  was  bound  to  the  u  stump  cross  ”  or 
stake,  and  “  for  the  greater  glory  of  God  ”  was 
cremated  by  his  own  former  fellow  churchmen. 
He  was  the  leader  of  a  great  host  who  went  to  the 
flames  for  conscience’  sake. 

Not  content  with  dictating  the  religion  of  the 
Nederlanders,  the  emperor  repeatedly  violated 
their  liberties.  When  Margaret  of  Savoy,  who 
had  been  made  governess  of  the  Netherlands  by 
Maximilian,  was  confirmed  in  her  office  by  Charles, 
her  power  was  increased  at  the  expense  of  the 
states.  Yet  she  governed  so  wisely  and  well, 
trying  hard  to  reform  the  crying  evils  in  the 
state,  that  the  Dutch  sincerely  mourned  her  death 
in  1530.  Heavily  taxed  to  support  the  foreign 
wars  of  the  emperor,  while  fresh  oppressions  were 
continued,  and  the  Great  Privilege  violated  again 
and  again,  the  Dutch  remained  patient  and  quiet. 
The  emperor  therefore  imagined  them  to  be  “  men 
of  butter  ”  who  would  submit  to  anything.  In 
this  he  was  fearfully  mistaken. 

One  evil  act  of  Charles  was  turned  to  the  good 
of  the  Dutch  nation.  In  spite  of  his  being  a 
foreigner,  Rene  of  Chalons,  the  Prince  of  Or¬ 
ange,  in  opposition  to  the  Great  Privilege,  was 
appointed  stadtholder  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.  141 

Utrecht.  Rene’s  father  was  Henry  of  Nassau, 
a  German,  his  mother  was  Claude  de  Chalons,  a 
native  of  France.  At  the  siege  of  St.  Dizier,  in 
1544,  Rene  was  knocked  down  by  a  stone  bullet 
and  died  the  next  day.  As  he  left  no  children, 
his  heir  and  successor  was  his  first  cousin,  Wil¬ 
liam,  Count  of  Nassau-Dillenburg.  This  lad  was 
then  but  eleven  years  old.  He  was  afterwards 
called  the  Silent,  and  by  the  Dutch,  Father  Wil¬ 
liam. 

The  Council  of  Trent  was  held  the  same  year, 
and  was  soon  followed  by  severe  imperial  edicts 
against  preaching,  printing,  and  books.  New 
martyr  fires  were  kindled,  and  the  Inquisition  be¬ 
came  more  active  in  its  hellish  tasks  of  “  church 
discipline.”  Not  satisfied  with  his  activity  in 
matters  deemed  religious,  Charles  began  the  work 
of  collecting,  in  order  to  confiscate,  the  charters 
of  the  cities  and  states  of  the  Netherlands.  His 
object  was  to  consolidate  the  seventeen  provinces 
with  Spain  into  one  compact  kingdom.  Broken 
in  health,  enfeebled  in  mind,  a  glutton  and  a 
bigot,  this  prematurely  old  man  of  fifty-five  de¬ 
cided  to  vacate  the  throne  and  retire  to  private 
life.  To  his  son  Philip  he  would  hand  over  the 
sceptre  and  the  tasks  of  government. 

On  the  25th  of  October,  1555,  in  the  city  of 
Brussels,  the  impressive  ceremonies  of  abdication 
were  carried  out.  Charles  was  dressed  simply  in 
black  velvet  and  leaned  on  the  arm  of  William, 


142 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Prince  of  Orange,  then  only  twenty-two  years  of 
age.  Arrayed  in  armor  inlaid  with  gold,  with  his 
steel  helmet  under  his  left  arm,  he  looked  the 
picture  of  noble  manhood.  He  was  stadtholder 
or  imperial  lieutenant-governor  of  three  rich  prov¬ 
inces  of  Nederland,  and  commander  of  the  im¬ 
perial  army  on  the  French  frontier.  He  had  been 
educated  by  his  mother,  Juliana  of  Stolberg,  a 
woman  of  rare  abilities  and  deeply  religious  char¬ 
acter,  and  had  also  gained  much  experience  of  life 
at  the  court  of  Charles  V.  Besides  highly  appre¬ 
ciating  him,  the  emperor  had  trusted  the  young 
man  with  the  gravest  secrets  of  the  state. 

On  the  other  side  of  Charles  stood  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  and  the  husband  of  Bloody  Mary  of  Eng¬ 
land,  who  was  to  succeed  his  father.  He  was 
dressed  in  velvet  and  gold,  but  was  ill-shapen  and 
was  more  or  less  of  an  invalid.  He  was  then 
twenty-eight  years  old. 

Here,  then,  were  two  typical  young  men.  One 
had  a  genius  for  government  and  had  a  charac¬ 
ter  noteworthy  even  among  ages  of  great  and  good 
men.  The  other  possessed  a  talent  for  misgovern- 
ment.  Philip  II.  had  a  passion  for  crushing  out 
liberty  and  suppressing  the  kind  of  religion  he 
called  heresy.  These  two  men  were  to  be  pitted 
against  each  other  like  gladiators,  the  one  the 
champion  of  Germanic,  the  other  of  Homan  ideas. 

After  the  abdication,  the  war  between  France 
and  Spain,  fomented  by  the  Pope,  broke  out 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.  143 


afresh.  An  army  of  35,000  infantry  and  12,000 
cavalry  was  raised  in  the  Netherlands,  which,  led 
by  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn,  and  assisted  by 
3,000  “  help-troops  ”  from  England,  laid  siege  to 
St.  Quentin,  in  1557.  In  a  great  battle  outside 
the  walls,  Egmont  by  a  terrific  charge  of  the 
Dutch  cavalry,  decided  the  fate  of  the  day.  The 
French  army  was  routed.  This  victory  saved 
the  Netherlands  from  invasion,  increased  their 
territory,  and  raised  Egmont’s  fame  to  the  highest 
pitch.  Later,  this  proud  descendant  of  the  old 
Frisian  King  Radbod  added  to  his  laurels  by 
another  victory  at  Gravelingen.  To  commemo¬ 
rate  these  triumphs,  Philip  II.  built  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  palace  of  the  Escurial  at  Madrid.  Modeled 
on  the  lines  of  a  gridiron,  this  wonderful  pile  of 
buildings  recalls  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Lawrence, 
after  whom  also  is  named  the  great  “  ocean  river” 
between  New  York  and  Canada. 

By  the  skillful  diplomacy  of  William  of  Orange 
peace  was  concluded  at  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis.  In  celebration  of  this  treaty,  the  cities  of 
the  Netherlands  bloomed  with  flowery  processions 
by  day  and  blossomed  with  the  fire  of  illumination 
by  night.  The  Nederlanders  were  amazingly 
proud  of  their  part  in  the  victories,  and  to  this 
day  the  splendors  of  “  Egmont  and  St.  Quentin  ” 
ar^  celebrated  in  the  gorgeous  costume-festivals 
which  the  Dutch  so  delight  in. 

At  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-fifth  anniversary 


144 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


celebration  of  tbe  foundation  of  Utrecht  Univer¬ 
sity,  in  the  summer  of  1891,  the  writer  enjoyed 
seeing  the  fifty-fifth  costume  procession.  Utrecht, 
was  robed  in  the  Dutch  colors,  red,  white,  and 
blue,  and  the  picture  of  mediaeval  history  was 
wonderfully  vivid.  The  only  modern  things  about 
the  procession,  which  was  made  up  of  students, 
were  their  numerous  eye-glasses. 

As  hostages  for  the  execution  of  all  the  prom¬ 
ises  in  the  treaty,  the  King  of  France  selected 
four  noble  subjects  of  King  Philip.  These  were 
the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  Count  Egmont,  William 
of  Orange,  and  the  Duke  of  Alva. 

While  in  France,  an  incident  took  place  which 
gave  William  of  Orange  his  title  in  history.  As 
matter  of  fact,  the  peace  between  Henry  II.  of 
France  and  Philip  II.  of  Spain  had  been  con¬ 
cluded  with  one  purpose  in  view,  as  advised  by 
cardinals  and  priests.  Both  sovereigns  were  to 
massacre  the  Protestants  in  their  dominions,  and 
in  the  Netherlands  the  Spanish  troops  were  to  be 
employed  for  this  special  purpose.  The  Duke  of 
Alva  was  in  the  secret,  and  King  Henry  supposed 
that  William  of  Orange  was  also.  When  out 
hunting  one  day  Henry  unfolded  the  horrible 
scheme.  William  listened  in  perfect  silence,  as 
if  he  knew  all  about  it.  He  betrayed  no  abhor¬ 
rence  at  the  work  coolly  proposed  by  their  Most 
Christian  Majesties  who  reigned  by  the  grace  of 
God. 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.  145 

In  Nederland  the  popular  joy  was  soon  turned 
into  mourning  when  the  truth  was  known.  Philip 
left  Nederland,  taking  ship  at  Flushing  for  Spain. 
Fourteen  new  bishoprics  were  erected  in  the  Low 
countries  and  the  Inquisition .  reinforced.  The 
murders  in  the  name  of  God,  the  barbarous  burn¬ 
ings,  flayings,  and  bone-smashings  in  the  interest 
of  the  church,  went  on.  One  has  but  to  visit  the 
rusty  old  tools  of  torture  kept  in  the  museums  at 
the  Hague  and  Amsterdam,  to  see  what  engines 
of  hellish  cruelty  “religious  ”  men  can  invent  in 
order,  as  they  say,  to  glorify  God.  One  must  be 
a  doctor  in  order  to  appreciate  fully  the  fiendish 
horrors  of  the  torturing  tools  used  for  each  sex. 

Goaded  and  at  bay,  the  Dutchmen  paid  back 
their  tormentors  in  their  own  coin.  The  excesses 
were  not  all  on  one  side.  Bands  of  desperate  men 
seized  priests  and  monks  and  mutilated  them. 
Later  on,  Protestant  fanatics  at  Ghent  and 
Bruges  burned  alive  Roman  Catholic  priests  at 
the  stake.  Thousands  of  skilled  workmen  and 
business  men,  knowing  that  neither  life  nor  prop¬ 
erty  was  now  safe  under  the  Inquisition,  fled  to 
Germany,  England,  and  the  other  Protestant 
countries. 

As  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  spread,  tens  of 
thousands  of  people  deserted  the  churches.  In 
the  open  air,  beyond  the  city  walls,  they  sang 
psalms  and  listened  to  the  preaching  of  the  Re¬ 
formed  ministers.  While  on  the  one  side  the 


146 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


people  were  becoming  desperate,  the  nobles  held 
aloof  from  the  government.  When,  however,  the 
troubles  became  so  great  that  the  land  was  threat¬ 
ened  with  ruin,  the  Netherlands  noblemen  formed 
a  league  to  protest  against  the  Inquisition  and  the 
presence  of  Spanish  troops.  They  rode  into  Brus¬ 
sels  plainly  dressed  and  unarmed,  and  marching 
four  abreast  into  the  council  chamber,  petitioned 
the  Duchess  Margaret  to  suspend  the  Inquisition 
and  send  an  envoy  to  the  king.  While  Margaret, 
with  a  woman’s  heart,  and  deeply  touched,  shed 
tears  over  the  piteous  appeal,  one  of  her  counsel¬ 
ors  named  Berlaymont  spoke  of  the  petitioners  as 
“a  troop  of  beggars.” 

The  dropping  of  that  word  gueux  (beggars)  was 
as  the  touching  of  an  electric  button  that  fires  a 
mine.  A  banquet  was  held  on  the  same  evening 
at  which  three  hundred  nobles  were  present.  All 
agreed  that  it  was  no  shame  to  be  beggars  for 
their  country’s  good.  “  Long  live  the  Beggars  !  ” 
rose  the  cry  from  every  side.  Count  Brederode 
went  out,  and  soon  reappeared  with  a  wooden 
platter,  such  as  the  begging  pilgrims  and  mendi¬ 
cant  monks  carried  and  in  which  they  received 
food  and  alms.  He  pledged  the  whole  company 
to  the  health  of  “  the  Beggars,”  and  the  cup  went 
merrily  around.  Attracted  by  the  sounds  of  rev¬ 
elry,  William  of  Orange  and  Counts  Egmont  and 
Hoorn  joined  the  company  and  united  in  the 
pledge. 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.  147 

Born  in  a  jest,  the  cry  of  “  the  Beggars  ”  be¬ 
came  the  watchword  of  liberty  which  was  to  ring 
out  on  many  a  bloody  field.  Seriously,  these 
noblemen  clothed  themselves  and  their  wives  and 
children  in  the  beggar’s  dress  of  coarse  gray.  On 
their  caps  they  hung  small  wooden  cups  such  as 
beggars  used,  and  from  chains  on  their  breasts, 
gold  or  silver  medals.  On  the  one  side  of  these 
was  engraved  the  image  of  Philip,  on  the  other  a 
beggar’s  wallet,  with  two  hands  joined,  and  the 
motto  “  Faithful  to  the  King,  even  to  bearing 
the  beggar’s  bag.” 

The  badge  was  now  seen  and  the  cry  heard  all 
over  the  country.  The  medals  made  of  copper  or 
lead  were  bought  by  the  people  and  hung  on  their 
hats.  Sailors  on  the  sea  and  workers  on  the 
street  gloried  in  being  Beggars.  Though  warned 
of  the  penalty  of  death,  they  attended  the  outdoor 
meetings  beyond  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  there¬ 
fore  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  magistrates. 
They  sang  psalms  and  listened  to  the  sermons 
and  harangues,  as  before,  but  now  they  went 
armed  for  resistance. 

William  of  Orange,  recognized  by  all  parties  as 
the  man  to  keep  the  peace,  went  to  Antwerp  to 
prevent,  if  possible,  the  impending  outbreak  be¬ 
tween  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Protestants. 
The  confederated  nobles  also  gathered  at  St. 
Trond.  At  the  request  of  the  Duchess  Margaret, 
they  were  met  by  William  of  Orange  and  Count 


148 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Egmont.  Bolder  than  ever  in  their  demands, 
they  advised  her  to  follow  the  counsel  of  Eg¬ 
mont,  Hoorn,  and  William,  and  to  call  a  meeting 
of  the  States-General.  After  conferring  with  her 
council,  Margaret  wrote  Philip,  advising  him  not 
to  yield  to  their  terms. 

By  this  time  Protestantism  in  a  threefold  form 
possessed  Nederland.  The  Anabaptists,  who  were 
very  numerous  in  Friesland,  were  largely  of  the 
lower  classes.  The  Lutherans  had  wealth  and  in¬ 
fluence,  but  were  moderate.  The  Calvinists  were 
democratic  in  tendency,  stern,  zealous,  and  uncom¬ 
promising,  and  were  now  probably  in  a  majority 
among  the  Protestants.  Yet,  up  to  this  point, 
many  of  the  best  patriots  and  reformers  were 
Catholics,  and  worked  hand  in  hand  for  the  relief 
of  their  country  from  injustice,  and  for  Neder¬ 
land  against  the  cruelties  of  Philip  and  his  ad¬ 
visers. 

When  a  long-gathering  storm  breaks,  it  cannot 
be  expected  that  the  ground  will  simply  be  wet, 
and  the  harvests  refreshed.  The  lightning  will 
rend,  wind  destroy,  and  rain  floods  wash  out.  W  is- 
dom  on  the  part  of  Philip  might  have  averted  the 
storm,  or  drawn  the  lightning  from  the  surcharged 
clouds  harmlessly  to  the  earth.  As  it  was,  the 
tempest  burst,  and  henceforth  the  Roman  Cath¬ 
olics  took  sides  with  the  Spanish  government, 
while  the  Protestants  were  compelled  to  fight  to 
the  bitter  end.  With  a  rapidity  which,  in  the 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.  149 


days  before  telegraphs,  seems  more  miraculous 
than  electric,  an  impulse  to  destroy  all  images 
seized  the  people.  The  popular  fury  spread  like 
prairie  fire,  and  in  three  days  the  churches  were 
made  bare,  or  filled  with  the  rubbish  of  broken 
statues.  Altars,  screens,  carvings,  pictures,  im¬ 
ages,  and  libraries  were  smashed  with  hammers, 
torn  with  shears  and  pincers,  tumbled  into  the 
street,  or  burned  in  bonfires.  Nothing  was  spared 
that  was  to  the  angry  people  a  symbol  of  super¬ 
stition  or  cruelty.  Sacred  oil  and  wafers,  and 
all  priestly  implements  and  equipments  roused 
especial  hatred.  Little  or  no  robbery  or  per¬ 
sonal  violence  was  committed.  Monasteries  and 
nunneries  were  cleaned  out  with  axe,  hammer, 
broom,  rake,  and  fire.  Their  wine  cellars  were 
emptied,  and  their  books  torn,  burnt,  and  scat¬ 
tered. 

From  this  time  forth  the  purged  cathedrals  and 
church  edifices  in  Nederland,  shorn  of  their  chap¬ 
els,  cleansed  of  candles,  incense,  pictures,  images, 
and  all  that  suggested  the  Inquisition,  Rome,  or 
anything  parasitic  to  simple  Christianity,  became 
plain  meeting-houses  or  places  of  worship.  Re¬ 
ligion  was  to  be  enjoyed  through  the  intellect  and 
not  through  imagination,  feeling,  and  the  senses. 
The  church  walls  were  whitewashed,  and  the 
family  pew  introduced.  The  pulpit  alone  took 
the  place  of  the  altar,  and  simplicity  ruled  where 
art  had  reveled.  The  Reformed  Churches  of  the 


150 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Netherlands,  though  still  “  sitting  under  the 
cross,”  and  not  yet  in  peace,  began  thus  their  life 
amid  stormy  scenes.  Their  emblem  was  the  lily 
among  thorns.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Dutch  Pro¬ 
testants,  from  amid  encompassing  perils,  up  and 
apart  from  Roman  heresies  and  worldly  entangle¬ 
ments,  the  pure  white  flower,  fragrant  and  un¬ 
stained  and  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  God  and 
man,  rose  to  be  the  joy  and  delight  of  Nederland. 
Suggestive  of  no  artificial  colors  or  garish  artifi¬ 
ciality,  but  simple,  natural,  pleasing  to  the  Master 
who  loved  her,  the  lily  of  Holland  became  the 
emblem  of  the  Dutchman’s  faith.  We  shall  see 
how  and  why,  in  a  few  months  later,  the  coat  of 
arms  of  William  the  Silent,  who  was  even  at  this 
time  obediently  Roman  Catholic,  became  the  ac¬ 
cepted  symbol  and  banner  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  in  Nederland. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  —  HEILIGER  LEE. 

The  acts  of  the  iconoclasts  were  severely  de¬ 
nounced  by  William  of  Orange,  as  well  as  by 
others  of  the  popular  party.  William  was  a  man 
who  believed  that  Christians  of  every  name  and 
form  of  worship  should  live  peaceably  together. 
Though  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  believed  in  the 
right  of  every  man  to  worship  God  according  to 
the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience.  He  hated 
both  the  fanaticism  of  the  Calvinists  and  the  cru¬ 
elties  of  the  Papists.  His  was  a  noble  soul,  far 
ahead  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

On  the  brink  of  a  great  revolt,  Margaret  vac¬ 
illated,  but  at  the  dictate  of  Philip  she  began  to 
sow  dissensions  among  the  nobles,  so  as  to  break 
up  their  union.  She  flattered  the  Roman  Cath¬ 
olics,  telling  them  that  the  king  would  pardon 
and  richly  reward  them  when  he  returned  to  pun¬ 
ish  the  heretics.  She  was  only  too  successful. 
About  one  third  of  the  Netherlandish  nobles 
were  won  over  to  the  royal  side,  and  the  confed¬ 
eracy  was  dissolved. 

Margaret  scarcely  waited  to  throw  off  the 
mask.  In  addition  to  the  foreign  troops  on  the 


152 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


soil,  she  raised  seven  regiments,  and  distributed 
them  in  garrisons  throughout  the  country.  Her 
pretext  was  the  punishment  of  the  image-breakers 
and  those  fomenting  sedition.  The  services  of 
the  Reformed  Churches  were  prohibited  in  manj 
places,  and  the  ministers  thrown  in  prison. 

William  of  Orange  was  more  than  a  match  for 
Philip.  He  could  not  be  deceived  by  kings’ 
favors  and  professions,  even  when  Philip  wrote 
to  him  with  his  own  hand.  William  knew  that 
the  weakness  of  kings  was  lying,  even  to  perjury. 
Besides,  Philip  had  been  absolved  of  the  Pope 
from  the  oath  he  had  taken  at  his  accession  to  the 
throne.  “To  fight  fire  with  fire,”  William  hired 
a  spy  in  Madrid  to  furnish  him  with  copies  of 
Philip’s  letters.  At  a  salary  of  three  hundred 
crowns  a  year,  a  clerk  employed  by  the  king’s 
secretary  kept  William  well  informed.  He  thus 
learned  the  decision  of  the  king  to  send  the  Duke 
of  Alva  with  a  great  Spanish  army  to  the  Neth¬ 
erlands.  When  Egmont  was  warned  by  William 
of  the  impending  dangers,  he  refused  to  believe 
that  his  life  was  in  jeopardy.  The  two  friends 
parted  with  tears,  and  William  retired  to  Nassau 
in  Germany.  Brederode  fortified  himself  in 
Yianen,  a  Dutch  town  on  the  Rhine. 

When  the  council  was  held  in  the  Spanish 
capital,  three  members  urged  mercy,  wisdom,  and 
patience.  The  others,  led  by  the  infamous  Car¬ 
dinal  Granvelle  and  the  Duke  of  Alva,  pressed 


THE  FIB  ST  BATTLE  —  IIE1L1GER  LEE.  153 

the  policy  of  torture,  fire,  and  the  headsman’s 
axe.  As  this  also  accorded  with  the  views  of 
Philip  and  the  Pope,  it  was  adopted.  Alva  was 
a  soldier  and  a  bigot,  a  fighter  who  took  his  con¬ 
science  from  the  priests.  The  Spanish  clergy 
and  the  nobles  approved  of  the  expedition,  and 
besides  rich  gifts  and  tokens  of  favor,  many  of 
them  accompanied  the  army  in  person.  They 
expected  to  break  the  neck  of  heresy,  and  share 
in  the  rich  spoils.  The  king,  mixing  finance  and 
religion,  also  hoped  to  fill  his  empty  treasury. 

The  finest  army  in  Europe,  the  larger  part  of 
it  equipped  with  muskets,  entered  the  Nether¬ 
lands  in  August,  1567,  over  twenty  thousand 
strong.  It  was  composed  of  veteran  Spaniards, 
Italians,  and  Germans,  and  under  superb  disci¬ 
pline.  The  work  of  vengeance  began  immedi¬ 
ately,  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  bodies  of  hundreds 
of  fresh  victims,  dead  but  unburied,  poisoned  the 
air.  Not  content  with  torture,  hanging,  burning, 
and  beheading,  the  duke  ordered  the  corpses  to 
remain  on  the  gibbets,  stump-crosses,  or  wayside 
trees,  as  a  warning  to  heretics. 

These  bloody  acts  quickened  a  great  movement 
that  had  begun  with  energy  even  before  Alva’s 
army  arrived.  Tens  of  thousands  of  the  best  peo¬ 
ple  in  the  southern,  or  Belgic  Netherlands,  fled 
to  England.  In  small  boats,  fishing  smacks,  on 
rafts,  or  trading  vessels ;  merchants,  shop-keepers, 
mechanics,  farmers,  left  their  homes.  Crossing 


154 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


the  Channel,  they  settled  in  London  and  the  coast 
towns  of  southern  and  eastern  England.  Most  of 
these  refugees  were  intelligent,  industrious,  Bible- 
reading  people.  They  introduced  many  new  in¬ 
dustries  and  inventions,  and  profoundly  affected 
the  religious,  social,  and  manufacturing  interests 
of  England.  The  number  of  Netherlander  who, 
during  “  the  troubles  in  the  Low  Countries,”  en¬ 
tered  Great  Britain,  was  not  far  from  one  hun¬ 
dred  thousand. 

Probably  a  majority  of  these  Protestant  refu¬ 
gees  became  subjects  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Many 
also  changed  their  names  or  gave  them  an  Eng¬ 
lish  form  by  pronunciation,  translation,  or  spell¬ 
ing  :  the  Kuypers  becoming  Coopers  ;  the  de 
Witts,  Dwights ;  the  Timmermans,  Carpenters ; 
the  Groens,  Greens;  the  Pickhardts,  Packards, 
etc.  Their  descendants  were  mostly  sturdy  Pro¬ 
testants,  usually  Independents,  and  were  numer¬ 
ous  in  the  Parliamentary  army  under  Fairfax  and 
Cromwell.  Not  a  few  of  the  grandsons  of  these 
Dutch  refugees  emigrated  to  the  American  colo¬ 
nies.  Some  of  the  bluest  blood  of  New  England 
was  Dutch  before  it  was  English.  Many  Ameri¬ 
cans  who  to-day  boast  of  their  “  unmixed  English 
stock  ”  are  descendants  of  Dutch  ancestors  who 
lived  in  the  Netherlands  until  Alva’s  time. 

Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn  were  arrested  early 
in  September,  1567,  and  in  June  of  the  next  year 
were  beheaded.  The  death  of  these  nobles,  of 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE -HEILIGER  LEE.  155 

such  high  rank  and  eminent  services,  filled  the 
Netherlander s  with  anguish,  horror,  and  detesta¬ 
tion.  Blood  shed  on  the  scaffold  is  remembered 
long  after  the  blood  of  the  battle-field  has  been 
forgotten.  Not  a  few  brave  men  vowed  never  to 
shave  their  beards  until  they  had  avenged  the 
death  of  Egmont  and  Hoorn. 

William  of  Orange  was  summoned  to  trial,  and 
on  refusing  to  appear  was  outlawed.  Even  the 
envoy  sent  to  King  Philip  was  beheaded  in  Ma¬ 
drid.  Margaret  the  duchess,  finding  her  author¬ 
ity  reduced  to  a  shadow  by  the  establishment  of 
the  Council  of  Troubles,  insisted  upon  and  re¬ 
ceived  her  dismissal  from  office. 

Alva  was  made  governor  -  general,  and  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  trample  into  the  mire  the  last  shreds 
of  Dutch  liberty.  The  people  called  the  Council 
of  Troubles  the  Council  of  Blood.  Alva  feared 
attack  from  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany. 
He  fortified  the  frontier  towns,  and  hastened  the 
completion  of  the  citadel  at  Antwerp. 

Let  us  now  see  what  the  patriots  were  doing. 
William  of  Orange,  finding  no  hope  but  in  the 
sword,  had  commissioned  his  brother  Louis  to 
enter  Nederland  with  an  army,  for  the  purpose 
of  “  restoring  freedom  and  liberty  of  conscience 
to  the  inhabitants,  and  of  preserving  the  prov¬ 
inces  for  the  king  in  their  former  prosperous  con¬ 
dition.” 

This  was  the  golden  age  of  fictions  in  law* 


156 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


What  to-day  we  should  consider  as  a  joke  was 
then  solemnly  and  religiously  proclaimed.  We 
shall  see  that  until  1581  the  Dutch,  in  fighting 
for  their  liberties  against  the  king,  professed  to 
fight  “  for  their  king.”  In  the  same  way  the  com¬ 
missions  of  the  English  Parliament  to  its  officers 
were  issued  in  the  name  of  Charles  I.,  that  is,  to 
the  very  men  who  fought  against  him  and  after¬ 
wards  put  him  to  death.  In  like  manner,  the  bat¬ 
tle  of  Lexington  was  fought  in  the  king’s  name, 
on  the  technical  right  to  “  proceed  unmolested 
along  the  king’s  highway,”  —  a  right  with  which 
the  king’s  troops  had  interfered.  Wonderful  are 
the  ways  of  law  and  the  fictions  of  loyalty,  but 
both  William  and  the  Dutchmen  were  lawyers. 
His  brother  Louis  was  the  Sam  Adams  of  the 
Dutch  revolution,  a  determined  partisan,  but  also 
a  bold  soldier.  Moving  from  Embden  in  Ger¬ 
many  with  such  troops  as  he  could  raise,  he  en¬ 
tered  Nederland  April  24,  and  took  up  a  position 
near  Heiliger  Lee. 

A  battle,  almost  as  long  as  the  eighty  years’ 
war,  has  raged  among  Dutch  antiquaries  as  to  the 
meaning  of  this  name,  whether  holy  lea  or  holy 
lion.  In  Teutonic  days  Hermann,  the  liberator 
of  Germany,  had  here  battled  victoriously  against 
three  legions.  Here,  also,  out  of  the  swamps,  the 
spectre  of  Yarus  had  risen,  to  warn  Germanicus 
of  the  danger  of  trying  to  repress  Teutonic  free¬ 
dom.  Three  centuries  before,  the  sea,  rushing  in, 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  —  HEILIGER  LEE.  157 


formed  the  Zuyder  Zee  and  the  Dollart,  hut  most 
of  the  swamp  land  had  since  been  reclaimed  for 
tillage.  In  Christian  ages  an  abbey  had  been 
built  here,  and  the  name  “holy  lea”  had  been 
given  to  the  land  around  it. 

The  battle  that  ensued  on  the  23d  of  May, 
1568,  between  the  “  Beggars,”  intrenched,  and 
the  Spaniards  attacking,  was  the  true  Lexington 
of  the  Dutch  War  of  Independence,  and  opened 
a  conflict  of  eighty  years.  The  Beggars  were 
ranged  in  two  squadrons,  the  pikemen  being 
flanked  by  musketeers ;  with  the  cavalry  in  front. 
The  only  roads  were  dykes,  and  on  all  sides  were 
abysses  of  mud  and  ooze.  The  commander  of  the 
Spaniards  knew  the  nature  of  the  battle-field,  but 
the  braggart  soldiers  did  not.  When  the  Dutch 
cavalry  purposely  broke  under  the  fire  of  the 
Spanish  field-pieces,  the  Spaniards  rushed  for¬ 
ward,  as  they  supposed,  to  easy  victory.  They 
were  soon  stuck  fast,  or  floundering  helplessly  in 
the  deep  mud.  While  in  this  plight,  the  shot-men 
of  the  smaller  square  took  easy  aim  and  slaugh¬ 
tered  them  by  the  score.  At  the  same  time  the 
pikemen,  with  their  shafts  sixteen  feet  long,  and 
tipped  with  iron  points,  charged  and  impaled  or 
forced  into  the  mud  those  trying  to  escape.  The 
rear  guard  of  the  Spaniards  was  broken  up  by  a 
sudden  charge  of  the  smaller  squadron,  which  had 
moved  around  the  hill.  The  patriots  fought  under 
their  banners,  inscribed  with  “  Freedom  for  father* 


158 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


land  and  conscience,”  and  44  Now  or  never,  to  re¬ 
trieve  or  to  die.” 

With  dry  feet,  the  army  of  Louis  had  sent  six 
hundred  Spaniards  to  a  bloody  death  and  muddy 
grave ;  had  taken  all  the  enemy’s  baggage  and 
money,  besides  the  six  field-guns  named  after  the 
notes  of  the  musical  scale,  ut ,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la. 
Only  a  few  of  the  Beggars  lost  their  lives,  though 
one  of  them  was  Count  Adolph,  the  first  of  the 
four  brothers  in  the  family  of  Orange  who  were 
to  die  for  Dutch  liberty. 

When  the  Duke  of  Alva  heard  the  news  he  re¬ 
solved  to  march  in  person  against  these  bold  Beg¬ 
gars.  He  first  issued  a  decree  of  banishment 
against  William  of  Orange  and  his  brother  Louis, 
razed  to  the  ground  the  Culemburg  palace  in 
Brussels,  where  the  Beggars  first  met  and  formed 
their  confederacy,  executed  eighteen  Netherland¬ 
er  s  of  distinction  on  the  morning  of  June  1,  and, 
on  the  4th,  at  Brussels,  as  we  have  already  stated, 
had  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn  decapitated.  He 
then  marched  to  the  frontier,  and  at  Jemmigen 
won  a  bloody  victory.  He  butchered  seven  thou¬ 
sand  of  the  troops  of  Louis  and  ravaged  the 
country. 

Heiliger  Lee  was  forgotten  in  the  awful  defeat 
and  slaughter  of  Jemmigen.  In  this  respect  it  is 
like  our  own  battle  of  Alamance  in  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  May  15,  1771,  which  is  practically  unknown 
to  popular  American  history.  Because  of  the  de« 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE—  HEILIGER  LEE.  159 

feat  of  Louis,  Heiliger  Lee  was  still  further  over¬ 
shadowed  by  Brill  five  years  later,  which,  like  our 
own  Lexington,  led  up  to  final  success.  Never¬ 
theless,  at  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Dutch  independence  in  1868,  a  superb  monument 
was  unveiled  in  a  flowery  enclosure  at  Heiliger 
Lee,  near  Winschoten.  It  represents  Batavia 
with  the  shield  of  liberty,  and  beside  her  an  en¬ 
raged  lion,  while  beneath  her  lies  the  young  hero, 
Adolph  of  Nassau,  “  dead  in  his  harness.” 


CHAPTER  XX. 


BRA  YE  LITTLE  HOLLAND  DEFIES  SPAIN. 

Now  that  the  war  had  actually  begun,  we  need 
only  glance  at  it  in  outline  and  not  burden  our¬ 
selves  with  the  details. 

Striking  as  were  the  movements  in  camp  and 
cabinet,  in  battle  and  in  politics,  a  movement 
equally  important  to  the  world’s  welfare  went  on 
in  the  mind  of  the  father  of  his  country,  William 
of  Orange.  Hitherto  he  had  been  a  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic,  not  especially  devout  or  zealous,  nor  often 
thinking  deeply  of  religious  truth,  yet  always 
counseling  toleration  and  charity.  The  Calvin¬ 
ists  and  Lutherans  thought  they  could  not  live 
with  each  other ;  William  believed  they  could,  and 
advised  them  to  do  so.  He  believed  that  truth 
was  able  to  take  care  of  itself.  When  this  prince 
saw  into  the  designs  of  kings  to  slaughter  their 
subjects  for  changing  the  form  of  their  faith,  he 
was  led  to  reflection.  When  outlawed,  exiled, 
with  a  price  set  upon  his  head,  and  the  cause  of 
freedom  desperate,  then  William  was  led  by  de¬ 
grees  to  be  a  deeply  religious  and  sincere  Chris¬ 
tian  man.  Step  by  step  he  advanced  until,  in 
1573,  he  publicly  worshiped  with  a  Reformed 
church. 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND  DEFIES  SPAIN.  161 

William  himself  chose  that  form  of  the  Re¬ 
formed  faith  known  as  Calvinism,  hut  in  doing  so 
he  became  far  more  than  a  Calvinist  or  a  secta¬ 
rian.  His  faith  had  deepened ;  religion  became 
more  of  a  reality.  It  was  no  longer  a  mere  mat¬ 
ter  of  politics  or  tradition,  but  in  his  own  soul 
he  believed  that  the  Anabaptists  and  the  Roman 
Catholics,  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  were  equally 
Christians.  They  were  seeking  God,  each  after 
the  way  which,  in  answer  to  prayer,  seemed  to  be 
good  to  him.  He  believed  that  they  all,  being 
children  of  one  Father,  should  live  lovingly  to¬ 
gether  as  his  children.  He  hated  persecution 
and  cruelty  done  in  the  name  of  religion.  He 
had  faith,  hope,  and  the  greatest  of  the  Christian 
virtues,  charity.  He  placed  upon  the  centre  of 
his  coat  of  arms  the  seal  of  the  city  of  Geneva,  a 
shield  with  a  white  cross  upon  it,  in  token  of  his 
Protestant  faith  and  his  adherence  to  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  the  great  reformer. 

After  the  army  of  his  brother  Louis  had  been 
cut  to  pieces  in  the  extreme  northeast  of  Neder¬ 
land,  William  summoned  the  Dutch  people  under 
his  flag  for  another  attempt  to  regain  their  lib¬ 
erties.  Selling  his  plate  and  jewels,  and  mort¬ 
gaging  his  estates,  he  raised  an  army  of  twelve 
thousand  men,  —  Germans,  French,  and  Nether- 
landers.  His  banners  were  inscribed  with  mottoes 
and  emblems  like  these  :  “  By  the  Divine  Favor,” 
“  For  the  King,  for  the  Law,  for  the  People.” 


162 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


On  others  was  painted  the  mother  pelican  feeding 
her  nestlings  with  blood  from  her  own  bosom. 
William’s  own  motto  was,  “  Tranquil  amid  raging 
waves.” 

His  first  campaign  proved  a  failure.  Alva  was 
a  consummate  soldier,  and  knew  that  without  pro¬ 
visions,  money,  and  further  recruits  his  foe,  with 
his  unseasoned  militia,  could  not  keep  the  field. 
He  therefore  avoided  battle,  but  devastated  the 
country,  starved  his  enemy,  and  waited.  Unsup¬ 
ported  by  nobles,  burghers,  or  people,  without 
money  to  pay  his  mutinous  troops,  who  would  not 
serve  in  France  with  the  Huguenots,  William 
marched  to  Strasburg  and  disbanded  his  forces. 

The  cause  of  liberty  was  now,  to  all  appearance, 
utterly  hopeless.  Alva  set  up  a  statue  of  himself 
at  Antwerp,  proceeded  to  enforce  all  the  king’s 
decrees,  set  the  bloody  machinery  of  the  Inquisi¬ 
tion  in  more  rapid  motion,  laid  fresh  taxes  on  the 
people,  and  persevered  in  wresting  away  the  char¬ 
ters  of  the  cities. 

Now  it  was  that  brave  little  Holland  rallied  to 
the  front  as  leader  of  holy  revolt.  Leyden  re¬ 
fused  point-blank  to  deliver  up  her  charter  of 
privileges,  and  resolved  to  defend  her  rights. 
Further :  Paul  Buys,  pensionary  of  this  city  re¬ 
public,  made  a  journey  to  Nassau-Dillenburg, 
where  William  was  waiting  patiently,  alert  and 
vigilant,  for  a  turn  in  events.  Leyden’s  attitude 
cheered  his  soul. 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND  DEFIES  SPAIN.  163 

By  the  advice  of  Admiral  Coligny  of  France, 
William  now  resolved  to  win  by  the  sea  and  the 
sailors.  The  fight  would  henceforth  be  on  water. 
He  at  once  issued  commissions  to  privateers,  and 
the  terrible  “  Water  Beggars  ”  began  their  work. 
Driven  away  from  the  ports  of  England,  a  band 
of  these  desperate  patriots  set  sail  for  the  Texel 
to  capture  a  Spanish  man-of-war  lying  there. 
Their  twenty-four  ships  were  commanded  by  Van 
der  Mark,  who  had  seen  Egmont’s  head  fall. 
Then  and  there  he  vowed  never  to  clip  his  hair 
nor  shave  his  beard  till  he  had  avenged  the  count’s 
death.  With  straps  across  their  breasts  marked 
“  Better  Turk  than  Papist,”  these  long-haired  and 
bearded  men,  at  once  saints  and  desperadoes, 
started  on  their  errand.  They  had  enlisted  for 
life. 

Wind  and  storm  drove  them  into  the  Maas  and 
before  the  town  of  Brill,  April  1,  1572.  Captur¬ 
ing  the  place,  they  touched  not  a  hair  of  the  head 
nor  a  stiver  of  the  property  of  the  citizens,  but 
they  hanged  thirteen  monks  and  priests,  and 
cleaned  out  and  whitewashed  the  churches.  One 
still  sees  to-day  the  broken  stonework  in  the  an¬ 
cient  house  of  worship,  while  hard  by  remains  the 
time-eaten  gateway  of  the  monastery  grounds,  now 
given  up  to  the  cultivation  of  cabbages  and  pota¬ 
toes. 

Brave  little  Holland  now  advanced  farther  as 
standard-bearer,  with  the  orange,  white,  and  blue 


164 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


flag.  Within  three  months  the  Beggars  had  taken 
many  places,  and  every  town  in  Holland  of  any 
importance,  except  Amsterdam,  had  raised  the 
Orange  colors.  William  now  came  into  Neder¬ 
land,  and  at  once  began  to  issue  orders  in  his  own 
name  and  that  of  Holland.  He  restrained  the 
excesses  of  the  Beggars,  who  were  apt  to  be  too 
Spanish  in  their  behavior  after  victory. 

It  had  come  to  pass  that  nobles  and  burghers 
having  been  timid,  hesitant,  and  cold,  the  people 
first  rose  up  to  follow  him.  The  revolt  first  of 
Holland  and  then  of  all  Nederland  was  a  move¬ 
ment  of  the  people.  Henceforth  the  battle-cry 
of  “  Oranje  boven  !  ”  (“  Up  with  Orange !  ”)  was 
from  the  people’s  heart.  It  meant  national  unity, 
power,  victory.  The  long  friendship  of  the  Dutch 
people  with  the  House  of  Orange  here  begins  in 
earnest,  —  a  friendship  still  as  strong  as  death,  as 
unyielding  as  Sheol. 

Alva  met  brave  little  Holland  with  all  his  ener¬ 
gies.  He  sent  his  fierce  tercios  to  seize  Naarden 
and  butcher  the  men,  women,  and  children  in  it. 
This  they  did.  The  corpses  were  left  unburied 
in  the  streets,  and  the  place  was  made  a  desert. 

By  this  time  the  conscience  of  British  Protest¬ 
ants  was  beginning  to  awaken.  Englishmen  saw 
that  if  the  Netherlands  went  down  before  mighty 
Spain,  their  little  country  must  follow.  Volun¬ 
teers,  singly  and  in  companies,  now  came  over  to 
help  the  Dutchmen.  Henceforth  we  shall  hear  of 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND  DEFIES  SPAIN.  165 

Scotsmen  and  English  lads  and  men,  with  pike 
and  musket,  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
the  men  of  the  dykes  against  the  Spaniard.  In 
republican  Nederland  began  the  training  of  the 
men  who  afterwards  made  military  records  in 
America.  For  fifty  years  the  chief  history  of 
the  British  army  was  wrought  out  in  the  Neth¬ 
erlands. 

Haarlem  was  next  marked  for  destruction. 
Poor  and  weak  as  they  were,  the  citizens  began 
the  defense  against  Don  Frederic  and  his  veterans 
with  their  heavy  artillery.  The  garrison  of  Ger¬ 
mans,  Scots,  English,  and  Nederlanders,  number¬ 
ing  less  than  two  thousand  men,  was  reinforced  by 
Catherine  van  Hasselaar  and  her  corps  of  three 
hundred  women,  who  handled  spade  and  pick,  hot 
water,  and  blazing  hoops  of  tar  during  the  as¬ 
saults.  Over  the  ice  of  the  frozen  Haarlem  lake, 
the  Leydeners,  directed  by  William,  sent  food, 
powder,  cannon,  and  men. 

Alva  had  the  dykes  cut,  and  a  fleet  of  sixty 
vessels  got  into  the  lake  when  the  ice  had  melted. 
Then  Haarlem  had  no  communication  with  the 
world  outside,  except  by  carrier  pigeons.  All 
avenues  of  escape  being  cut  off,  the  provision 
trains  and  reinforcements  destroyed  by  the  Span¬ 
iards,  and  the  Haarlemers  being  at  the  point  of 
starvation,  the  heroic  siege  of  seven  months,  with 
its  savage  brutalities  on  both  sides,  ended.  Prob¬ 
ably  ten  thousand  Spaniards  lay  buried  in  the 


166 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


sand  and  ooze.  The  Scottish  and  English  sol¬ 
diers  of  the  garrison  were  hanged  or  drowned, 
and  the  Reformed  ministers  beheaded. 

Alkmaar  was  the  next  town  singled  out  for 
destruction.  Sixteen  thousand  Spaniards  under 
Don  Frederic,  son  of  Alva,  began  the  siege,  ex¬ 
pecting  it  soon  to  fall  like  Haarlem,  its  garrison 
being  no  larger.  The  hated  foreigners  were  met 
in  the  breaches  by  men  and  boys,  women  and 
girls,  who  fought  with  pike,  sword,  stones,  fire, 
and  hot  water  for  a  month.  Then,  with  the  wolf 
of  famine  baring  his  teeth  in  their  faces,  the 
people  of  Alkmaar,  which  means  “All  sea,”  re¬ 
solved  to  give  the  Spaniards  an  object  lesson  in 
Dutch  geography.  Most  of  this  part  of  Holland 
lies  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  sea.  The  Alkmaar  people  cut  the  dykes  and 
again  made  the  country  all  sea.  The  flood  nearly 
drowned  the  Spaniards,  who  broke  camp  and  re¬ 
turned  to  Amsterdam,  where  the  don  rejoined 
the  duke,  October  8,  1578.  As  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fought  against  Sisera,  so  the  sea  and  its 
waves  baffled  the  skill  of  Alva. 

A  few  days  later,  the  Dutch  sailors  won  a  naval 
victory  in  the  Zuyder  Zee.  Having  little  ammu¬ 
nition,  they  butted  the  big  ship  with  their  smacks 
and  fougbt  at  close  quarters.  Among  the  Span¬ 
ish  prisoners  taken  was  Bossu,  who  led  the  mas¬ 
sacre  at  Rotterdam.  This  battle  and  its  results 
made  Amsterdam  an  unsafe  place  for  the  Duke 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND  DEFIES  SPAIN.  167 


of  Alva,  and  lie  left  the  city  at  night  secretly, 
and  without  even  paying  his  debts.  During  all 
this  time  William  of  Orange  was  unceasingly 
active,  and  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Geertruy- 
denberg  by  one  of  his  officers  raised  fresh  hopes 
among  the  patriots. 

After  all  the  blood  shed,  Alva  had  practically 
failed.  Unable  to  get  money  from  either  Spain 
or  Nederland,  he  was  obliged  to  summon  the 
States-General  at  Brussels.  Brave  little  Holland 
sent  an  address  advising  the  other  provinces  to 
resist  Alva.  She  declared  her  purpose  to  defy 
injustice  until  every  town  and  man  were  de¬ 
stroyed.  Alva  now  asked  and  received  his  recall. 
In  November  he  left  the  Netherlands  forever. 
His  successor  was  Don  Louis  de  Requesens,  Gov¬ 
ernor  of  Castile. 

In  the  campaigns  which  marked  the  year  1574, 
William  of  Orange  lost  two  brothers,  Louis 
the  hero  of  Heiliger  Lee,  and  Henry  of  Nassau. 
Leyden  was  besieged  and  heroically  defended. 
The  Spaniards  were  especially  determined  to  win 
this  defiant  city,  the  very  heart  of  Holland,  in 
which  the  first  systematic  resistance  to  Alva  had 
been  made.  Valdez  the  commander  built  sixty- 
six  forts  around  the  place,  and  so  severe  was  the 
blockade  that  no  succor  by  land  was  possible. 

William  of  Orange  and  the  States  met  at  Rot¬ 
terdam  and  resolved  once  more  to  call  in  the  aid 
of  the  sea.  “  Better  ruin  the  land  than  lose  it,” 


168 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


was  their  vote.  After  five  months,  when  famine 
had  begun  and  the  plague  raged  in  Leyden,  the 
dykes  were  cut  at  Schiedam  and  Delfshaven,  and 
the  rich  farming  country  was  flooded  for  twenty 
miles.  A  fleet  of  two  hundred  flat-bottomed 
boats  loaded  with  herring  and  bread  for  the  be¬ 
sieged,  powder  and  ball  for  the  Spaniards,  moved 
upon  the  artificial  ocean.  On  the  3d  of  October, 
after  desperate  fighting  between  the  Water  Beg¬ 
gars,  led  by  Admiral  Boisot,  and  the  Spaniards, 
Leyden  was  saved. 

Like  true  Dutchmen  who  love  the  good  things 
of  life  for  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body,  the  Ley¬ 
den  people  chose,  as  guerdon  of  their  valor  and 
constancy,  from  the  hand  of  William,  a  Univer¬ 
sity.  On  the  8th  of  February,  1575,  the  charter, 
in  the  name  of  King  Philip,  of  course,  was  given. 
The  Dutch,  knowing  that  intellectual  and  spirit¬ 
ual  freedom  was  even  more  important  than  politi¬ 
cal  liberty,  had,  beside  their  free  public  schools 
and  academies,  five  national  universities.  These 
were  at  Leyden,  Franeker,  Groningen,  Utrecht, 
and  Harderwyk. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE  DUTCH  UNITED  STATES. 

War  and  diplomacy  continued,  but  the  details 
need  not  detain  us.  Don  Louis  di  Requescens 
died  in  1576.  The  famous  compromise  called  the 
Pacification  of  Ghent  gave  quiet  for  a  while,  but 
the  proceedings  of  Don  John  of  Austria,  the  next 
Governor-General  of  the  Netherlands  appointed 
by  Philip,  were  in  violation  of  it.  The  popular¬ 
ity  of  William  the  Silent  continually  increased. 
To  his  high  office  as  stadtholder  was  added  that 
of  Ruwaard  or  Governor  of  Brabant,  an  election 
which  came  about  through  a  popular  uprising. 
William  now  hoped  to  bring  about  a  union  of  the 
seventeen  provinces  of  the  Netherlands.  To 
such  an  end  he  had  been  working  for  years.  He 
at  once  enlisted  the  services  of  his  brother  John, 
Stadtholder  of  Gelderland.  The  result  was  the 
formation  of  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  January  23, 
1579. 

Describing  this  pivotal  event  as  interpreted  by 
later  events,  and  in  modern  language  familiar  to 
Americans,  this  was  what  took  place.  The  seven 
states  of  Holland,  Utrecht,  Zeeland,  Overyssel, 
Gelderland,  Friesland,  and  Groningen  formed  a 


170 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


federal  republic,  with  a  written  constitution, 
under  the  orange,  white,  and  blue  flag.  Under 
this  constitution  the  Dutch  republic  was  to  have 
a  career  of  two  centuries.  Their  motto  was,  “  By 
concord,  little  things  become  great,”  or  in  free 
translation,  “  In  union  there  is  strength.”  The 
Union  of  Utrecht  made  Nederland. 

There  were  negotiations  for  peace,  and  media¬ 
tion  between  other  sovereigns  and  the  King  of 
Spain,  but  these  came  to  naught,  and  the  war 
went  on.  The  Dutch  statesmen,  good  lawyers  as 
they  were,  had  hitherto  done  everything  in  the 
name  of  the  king,  just  as  our  fathers  fought  at 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  in  the  name  of 
George  III.  They  even  offered  the  sovereignty 
of  Nederland  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  but  in  1581 
they  deposed  King  Philip,  renouncing  his  author¬ 
ity,  and  on  the  26th  of  July  published  to  the 
world  their  Declaration  of  Independence.  In 
this  the  Dutch  gave  the  English  their  great  prece¬ 
dent  and  example  for  the  deposition  of  James  II. 
in  1688,  and  the  Americans  for  their  act  of  July 
4,  1776. 

Philip  now  prosecuted  the  war  with  renewed 
vigor.  Failing  of  success  in  either  the  cabinet 
or  the  field,  he  hired  assassins  to  kill  the  one  man 
who  was  more  than  his  match.  After  repeated 
attempts,  a  villain  named  Balthazar  Gerard  suc¬ 
ceeded.  While  at  Delft,  with  his  wife  and  sister 
near  him,  and  wearing  the  badge  of  the  Beggars 


THE  DUTCH  UNITED  STATES. 


Ill 


on  his  breast,  William  was  shot  by  the  fanatic, 
who  died,  under  the  tortures  usual  in  those  days, 
glorying  in  his  atrocious  deed. 

For  a  while  the  Dutch,  still  imagining  that  a 
king  was  needed,  did  not  act  very  much  like  mod¬ 
ern  republicans.  They  offered  the  sovereignty 
first  to  the  King  of  France  and  then  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  of  England.  Fortunately  for  Neder¬ 
land,  neither  of  these  would  take  it,  so  the  Dutch 
fought  out  the  battle  by  themselves,  becoming 
more  democratic  in  religion  and  more  republican 
in  state.  They  turned  to  Protestant  England 
for  help,  but  at  first  found  it  slow  in  coming. 
Finally,  when  Elizabeth  thought  that  the  loan  of 
money  was  safe  enough  to  be  a  profitable  invest¬ 
ment,  she  permitted  the  London  merchants  to 
lend  the  States-General  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  As  security  for  the  repayment 
of  the  loan,  she  required  that  three  towns,  Flush¬ 
ing,  Rammekens,  and  Brill,  should  be  put,  as  it 
were,  in  the  English  pawnbroker’s  shop,  that  is, 
should  be  garrisoned  by  English  soldiers  under 
an  English  governor. 

One  of  the  lads  who  accompanied  the  queen’s 
commissioner  to  Holland,  and  who  slept  with  the 
big  iron  keys  of  the  gates  of  these  three  towns 
under  his  pillow,  was  William  Brewster,  who  after¬ 
wards  advised  the  Scrooby  Independents  to  seek 
freedom  in  Holland.  He  lived  eleven  years  in 
Leyden,  and  helped,  with  the  Pilgrims,  to  settle 
Massachusetts. 


172 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Evidently  Queen  Elizabeth  dallied  with  the 
Dutch  proposals  as  she  did  with  those  from  her 
lovers,  like  the  coquette  she  was  in  affairs  of  state 
as  well  as  matters  of  love.  She  would  be  sov¬ 
ereign  of  Nederland  if  it  suited  her.  She  did  not 
approve  of  subjects  revolting  from  their  sover¬ 
eign,  yet  she  knew  the  Dutch  cause  was  England’s 
also ;  for,  as  soon  as  Philip  had  put  his  foot  on 
the  neck  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  he  would  crush 
her  kingdom.  Brave  little  Holland,  that  had 
thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Philip  several  years  be¬ 
fore  the  United  States  of  Nederland  had  done  so, 
was  really  fighting  England’s  battle.  Elizabeth 
therefore  dispatched  a  force  of  five  thousand  in¬ 
fantry  and  one  thousand  cavalry  to  fight  under 
the  Dutch  flag  and  to  be  in  Dutch  pay.  The  Earl 
of  Leicester  was  appointed  governor-general  of 
her  forces  in  Nederland. 

Either  the  Dutchmen  lost  their  heads  in  joy 
over  the  English  alliance  and  the  solid  aid  given, 
or  else  they  meant  by  their  act  to  secure  Eliza¬ 
beth  as  a  principal  in  their  struggle  with  Spain, 
for  the  States-Greneral  made  Leicester  their  gov¬ 
ernor.  They  conferred  more  power  upon  him 
than  they  had  given  to  William  of  Orange,  though 
not  more  than  they  would  have  done  had  William 
lived.  They  .soon  repented  of  their  folly,  and, 
fortunately,  Elizabeth  recalled  Leicester  before 
he  had  done  much  mischief. 

Not  a  little  harm,  however,  was  done  by  “  the 


THE  DUTCH  UNITED  STATES .  173 

English  party  ”  in  Nederland  to  the  cause  of  free¬ 
dom.  Among  the  officers  was  a  shamefully  large 
number  of  thieves  and  traitors,  who  drained  the 
Dutch  treasury  and  sold  out  their  posts  to  the 
Spaniards.  Most  of  the  English  officers  and 
men,  however,  were  fine  specimens  of  manhood. 
Maurice,  the  son  of  William,  who  now  conducted 
the  war,  declared  that  he  liked  to  get  hold  of  the 
fairfaced  lads  “  while  they  had  English  beef  still 
in  their  ”  stomachs.  Among  their  leaders  were 
the  brothers  Sir  Francis  and  Sir  Horace  Yere, 
and  the  chivalrous  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  from  whose 
writings  the  Latin  legend  on  the  seal  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  has  been  taken :  “  By  the  sword 
she  seeks  calm  quiet  under  liberty.”  Beginning 
with  1585,  it  may  be  said  that  for  fifty  years  the 
scene  of  the  history  of  the  British  army  was  in 
the  Low  Countries.  In  the  English  ranks,  or 
serving  as  officers,  were  the  men  who  afterwards 
were  explorers,  military  advisers,  or  commanders 
in  America :  Sir  Walter  Baleigh,  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  John  Smith,  Miles  Standish,  Lyon  Gar¬ 
diner,  Samuel  Argali,  Edward  Wingfield  of  Vir¬ 
ginia,  Jacob  Leisler,  and  many  others.  The 
military  terms  “forlorn  hope,”  “life  guards,”  and 
others,  now  in  use  in  English,  date  from  this 
period,  and  are  only  mispronounced  Dutch,  while 
most  of  the  Spanish  words  turned  into  English 
and  employed  in  the  army  were  introduced  into 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century. 


174 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND , 


In  Holland  these  Englishmen  imbibed  republi¬ 
can  ideas  and  caught  the  spirit  of  liberty  which, 
a  generation  or  two  later,  resulted  in  the  over¬ 
throw  of  the  tyrant  Charles  Stuart  and  the  for¬ 
mation  of  the  English  commonwealth.  Many  of 
the  officers  and  soldiers  married  Dutch  wives, 
for  the  modesty  and  grace  of  the  maidens  at¬ 
tracted  the  Englishmen  in  the  garrison  towns, 
and  they  found  social  life  in  Nederland  very 
agreeable. 

Probably  the  most  famous  of  these  allies  was 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  who  was  mortally  wounded  in 
a  convoy-skirmish  near  Zutphen,  and  died  at  Arn¬ 
hem.  In  the  agonies  of  thirst,  instead  of  drink¬ 
ing  the  cool  water  brought  him,  he  ordered  it  to 
be  given  to  a  common  soldier  saying,  u  Thy  neces¬ 
sity  is  greater  than  mine.”  The  incident  illus¬ 
trates  not  merely  the  chivalry  of  Sidney,  but  even 
more  the  low  estate  of  the  average  English  soldier, 
and  the  social  gulf  between  a  nobleman  and  a 
commoner.  It  was  quite  different  when,  after 
serving  among  the  Dutch  republicans  for  a  gen¬ 
eration  or  two,  the  chasm  was  narrowed.  Then, 
officers  and  men  were  more  on  a  social  level,  and 
while  England  had  a  republic,  the  “  common  ” 
soldiers  were  “  privates.” 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


SPAIN  RECOGNIZES  THE  REPUBLIC. 

Maurice,  the  son  of  William  of  Orange  and 
Anne  of  Saxony,  was  born  in  1567,  the  year  of 
the  coming  of  Alva.  He  became  the  ablest  sol¬ 
dier  in  Europe.  On  one  of  the  Dutch  medals 
we  see  the  picture  of  a  boy  who  has  dipped  a 
leather  disk  in  water ;  with  this  he  is  able  to  lift 
a  brick  after  he  has  pressed  the  “  sucker  ”  flat 
and  tight  with  his  foot.  This  shows  how  science 
conquers  difficulties.  On  a  medal  struck  at 
Utrecht  in  1602  is  the  same  device,  in  which  a 
farmer  is  represented  lifting  easily  a  great  mill¬ 
stone.  The  motto  is  Ars  grave  toilet  onus  (By 
art  a  heavy  burden  is  lifted). 

So  Maurice,  who  had  studied  the  campaigns 
of  Caesar  and  the  ancient  masters  of  strategy, 
tactics,  and  war  engineering,  became  first  the 
dangerous  rival,  and  then  the  superior  of  the 
ablest  Spanish  generals.  The  army  and  navy  of 
the  United  States  were  greatly  improved,  and  the 
best  relations  established  between  the  troops  and 
the  farmers.  The  Dutchmen,  now  thoroughly 
aroused  and  cool-headed,  prepared  to  fight  for  a 
•century,  if  necessary,  until  their  freedom  was 


176 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


gained.  Money  must  be  had,  and  this  they  pur¬ 
posed  to  earn  by  farming  and  honest  trade,  as 
well  as  by  the  occasional  capture  of  a  Spanish 
silver  fleet  on  its  way  home  to  Europe. 

The  war  from  this  time  on  became  more  like  a 
skillfully  played  game,  and  consisted  largely  of 
engineering  operations.  Hence,  its  detailed  story 
is  not  interesting.  The  sieges  of  Antwerp  and 
Ostend  and  the  battle  of  Nieuwport  were  leading 
events.  Maurice  went  steadily  on,  capturing  city 
after  city,  reducing  the  Spanish  army,  making 
prisoners,  and  winning  more  strength  for  the 
Union. 

Trade  with  the  East  Indies  was  soon  opened, 
for  the  Dutch  had  obtained  copies  of  the  charts 
of  the  Portuguese,  to  whom,  with  the  Spaniards, 
the  Pope  had  once  divided  the  unexplored  world 
opened  by  Columbus  and  Da  Gama.  The  far 
East  and  the  Spice  islands  become  sources  of 
immense  wealth  to  the  Hollanders.  In  1598 
Dutch  ships  entered  the  seas  of  China,  and  in 
1600  one  of  them  reached  Japan.  The  Dutch¬ 
men  found  that  their  butter  and  cheese  were  not 
wanted  by  the  rice-eaters  of  Asia,  but  they  quickly 
learned  the  demands  of  the  markets,  and  profited 
by  their  knowledge.  Later  on,  the  famous  Dutch 
East  India  Company  was  established,  followed  by 
the  W est  India  Company.  It  was  their  excellent 
business  qualities,  backed  by  their  sound  finan¬ 
cial  policy,  that  enabled  the  Nederlanders  to  bear 
the  strain  of  the  long  war. 


SPAIN  RECOGNIZES  THE  REPUBLIC.  177 

Furthermore,  since  the  southern  Netherlands 
had  weakened,  and,  weary  of  the  burdens,  sur¬ 
rendered  to  Spain,  thousands  of  the  best  business 
men  and  skilled  artisans  had  emigrated  to  Neder¬ 
land,  settling  mostly  in  Holland.  This  accession 
of  a  large  body  of  devout,  able,  and  intelligent 
Protestants  greatly  enriched  and  strengthened 
the  republic. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  of  these  men  from 
Belgic  Netherland  was  Usselinx,  who  was  the 
moving  spirit  in  the  formation  of  the  West  India 
Company,  which  sent  forth  the  explorer,  Henry 
Hudson,  after  whom  the  great  river  of  New  York 
State  and  North  America’s  largest  bay  are  named. 
Colonies  were  also  formed  in  different  parts  of 
the  world.  The  Dutch  proved  their  ability  in  a 
line  of  enterprise  in  which  so  many  nations  fail,  — 
colonization.  With  almost  every  colony  went,  bed¬ 
sides  traders,  mechanics,  and  farmers,  the  domine, 
or  minister,  and  the  schoolmaster.  The  church 
and  the  school  were  among  the  first  buildings 
erected  and  put  in  use,  not  only  on  Manhattan 
Island,  and  along  the  Hudson,  Mohawk,  and  Rar¬ 
itan  rivers,  but  in  the  East  and  West  Indies. 

Despite  the  war  on  their  own  soil,  the  works  of 
engineering,  dyke-making,  and  pumping  out  wet 
lands  went  on.  Even  before  peace  came  through 
truce,  the  fishes  in  the  Beemster  Lake,  a  few 
miles  north  of  Amsterdam,  had  to  vacate  their 
feeding-grounds,  and  make  way  for  cattle.  Begun 


178 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


in  1608,  with  forty  mills  in  constant  operation, 
the  work  of  draining  a  lake  twenty-four  miles  in 
circumference  was  finished  in  1612.  The  polder 
yielded  eighteen  thousand  acres  of  fertile  land, 
and  richly  repaid  the  stockholders.  To-day  there 
are  still  rich  farms  and  large  herds  of  milk  kine 
on  the  Beemster  polder  where  once  was  salt  sea. 

At  last  Spain,  with  the  silver  mines  of  America 
at  her  hack,  and  the  finest  army  in  the  world,  had 
failed,  after  a  war  of  forty-one  years,  to  break 
the  neck  of  Nederland.  The  conflict  at  its  be¬ 
ginning  seemed  like  that  of  armed  Goliath  against 
a  shepherd  boy.  Some  Power  arranges  it  that 
neither  Goliath  nor  the  heaviest  battalions  win. 
Glad  to  have  rest  to  recruit  his  empty  treasury, 
and  to  gain  strength  for  a  final  effort,  Philip 
yielded.  A  truce  of  twelve  years  was  proposed, 
*and,  after  much  discussion  of  minutiae,  signed 
April  12, 1609.  It  was  to  take  effect  in  Asia, 
Africa,  and  America.  Spain  virtually  recognized 
the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of  the  Nether¬ 
lands  as  a  union  of  free,  independent,  and  sover 
eign  states. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


STATE  RIGHTS,  SECESSION,  AND  UNION® 

The  chief  danger  of  Protestantism  is  its  ten¬ 
dency  to  split  up  into  sects.  The  principal  peril 
of  a  republic  is  in  secession.  Philip  III.,  unsleep¬ 
ing  enemy  of  Nederland,  knew  this,  and  one  reason 
for  his  making  a  truce  was  the  hope  that  the 
Dutch  heretics  would  tear  each  other  to  pieces. 
Between  preachers  and  politicians,  he  thought  the 
heretical  republic  would  fall  an  easy  prey. 

We  Americans  know  by  experience  something 
both  of  secession  and  of  the  difficulty  of  hold¬ 
ing  all  parts  of  a  republic  in  union.  Before  our 
Constitution  was  framed,  our  fathers  had  great 
trouble  in  keeping  the  States  in  union  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution  from  1776  to  1783.  From 
1783  to  1787,  the  critical  period  of  our  national 
history,  the  troubles  multiplied  until  they  be¬ 
came  intolerable.  Even  after  the  Constitution 
had  been  framed,  the  friction  between  the  States 
which  were  agricultural  and  southern,  and  those 
which  were  commercial,  northern,  and  seafaring 
was  great. 

Driven  from  the  sea  by  embargoes,  the  Eastern 
States  became  manufacturers.  When  the  war 


180 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


of  1812  was  at  its  height,  the  Hartford  Conven¬ 
tion  was  called  in  the  interest  of  State  Rights. 
Later,  John  C.  Calhoun  represented  the  extreme 
doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty.  Webster  and 
Lincoln  stood  for  union.  After  the  civil  war  of 
1861-1865,  new  questions  between  East  and  West 
arose,  and  fresh  problems  of  finance  and  govern¬ 
ment  still  demand  the  highest  wisdom  of  our 
statesmen.  The  records  of  Nederland  shed  light 
on  our  national  history  at  many  points. 

The  Dutch  Republic  had  all  these  problems,  in 
one  form  or  another,  two  centuries  before  they 
vexed  our  fathers.  Almost  all  our  words  and 
phrases  about  union,  state  rights,  secession,  coer¬ 
cion,  “  the  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved,” 
etc.,  were  heard  in  Dutch  before  we  uttered  them. 
These  terms,  nearly  unknown  in  a  monarchy,  but 
common  in  a  republic,  have  come  to  us  from 
Nederland.  The  Dutch  did  not  have  our  modern 
newspapers,  but  their  books,  pamphlets,  broad¬ 
sides,  and  printers’  bills,  quickly  stuck  on  walls, 
pumps,  curb-stones,  and  bridges,  though  now  two 
or  three  hundred  years  old,  read  and  sound  won¬ 
derfully  American.  Page  after  page  of  the  Dutch 
books  read  to  an  American  like  a  family  diary. 

The  truce  of  1609-1621  brought  peace  in  the 
camp,  but  not  in  the  town  or  the  church.  The 
forces  of  union  and  secession  at  once  became 
rampant.  Maurice,  the  stadtholder  and  soldier, 
was  as  our  Lincoln,  and  stood  for  union.  Bar* 


STATE' RIGHTS,  SECESSION,  AND  UNION.  181 


neveldt  incarnated  state  rights  and  Calhounism* 
Maurice  was  the  first  soldier  of  Europe,  hut  not 
very  much  of  a  statesman.  He  relied  for  advice 
upon  Lodewyk,  the  stadtholder  of  Friesland. 

Like  our  own  Calhoun,  Barneveldt  was  a  pro- 
found  statesman,  of  pure  and  incorruptible  life. 
Barneveldt  wanted  continued  peace  in  order  to 
restore  the  waste  of  war.  Maurice  wished  the 
war  to  go  on,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  absolute 
independence.  Barneveldt  feared  that  the  suc¬ 
cess  of  Maurice  would  be  fatal  to  republican 
government.  He  thought  the  Dutch  might  be 
ruined  by  their  newly-aroused  passion  for  mil¬ 
itary  glory. 

Next  to  secession  and  disunion,  the  greatest 
danger  to  a  republic  is  too  much  power  in  the 
central  government  at  the  expense  of  the  states 
composing  the  republic.  When  president  or 
stadtholder  becomes  a  dictator,  the  republic  exists 
only  in  name.  Barneveldt  wished  to  preserve  the 
right  of  the  states.  Possibly  Maurice  wanted  the 
stadtholder  to  be  a  veiled  monarch. 

With  these  two  men  as  leaders  of  the  war  or 
union  party,  and  the  peace  or  state-rights  party, 
respectively,  it  was  easy  for  partisans  to  charge 
Barneveldt  with  being  bribed  by  Spanish  gold, 
and  Maurice  with  aspiring  to  be  a  king.  Peace 
was  opposed  to  Maurice’s  ambition,  war  was 
against  Barneveldt’s  plans  as  a  statesman.  The 
country  people  and  the  commercial  and  seafaring 


182 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


people  sided  mostly  with  Barneveldt.  The  offi¬ 
cers  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  town  and  city 
folk,  the  domines  or  Calvinistic  ministers  and  the 
officeholders  and  employees  of  the  government 
were  with  Maurice. 

Nederland  had  a  legislative  body  in  two  divi¬ 
sions,  the  one  representing  the  separate  states,  the 
other  the  whole  nation,  somewhat  as  does  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash¬ 
ington.  The  States  -  General  or  Senate,  after 
which  the  American  Senate  is  so  closely  modeled, 
represented  the  sovereign  states  of  the  republic ; 
the  delegates  of  each  state,  no  matter  how  small 
or  large,  had  one  vote.  The  nation  at  large  was 
represented  by  a  committee  of  thirty  members  of 
the  States-General.  This  body,  which  stood  for 
the  people  and  not  for  the  separate  states,  had 
charge  of  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

Barneveldt  was  a  member  of  both  these  houses 
or  assemblies.  He  represented  the  populous  and 
rich  province  of  Holland,  which  paid  nearly 
one  half  of  the  national  expenses.  During  the 
war  he  was,  and  had  been  since  the  death  of 
William  of  Orange,  the  most  active  statesman, 
the  virtual  ruler  of  the  country.  The  archives  in 
the  Hague  to-day,  with  their  thousands  of  auto¬ 
graph  papers  of  Barneveldt,  show  him  to  have 
been  a  man  of  amazing  industry  as  well  as  pro¬ 
digious  ability  and  influence. 

While  the  life  of  Nederland  was  in  danger 


f  STATE  RIGHTS ,  SECESSION ,  ^liVD  UNION.  183 

from  Spain,  this  great  man  stood  by  the  Union, 
holding  that  the  people  of  Nederland  made  the 
Dutch  republic  and  were  a  nation.  When  peace 
came,  he  taught  and  maintained  what  seemed  to 
the  people  the  very  opposite,  that  there  was  only 
a  league  of  states,  and,  if  necessary,  Holland 
could  withdraw  and  become  an  absolutely  inde¬ 
pendent  state.  Many  times  had  Barneveldt  dis¬ 
agreed  with  Maurice  in  regard  to  military  policy, 
but  the  soldier,  obedient  to  the  civil  power  as 
supreme,  had  obeyed,  though  often  acting  against 
his  own  judgment.  In  time  of  peace  a  quarrel 
between  these  two  able  men  was  sure  to  follow. 

Outwardly,  and  in  the  eyes  of  most  writers  on 
Dutch  history,  the  quarrel  was  between  two  am¬ 
bitious  men,  the  one  a  lawyer,  the  other  a  soldier. 
In  the  same  manner,  most  writers  have  clouded 
the  subject  by  their  descriptions  of  the  theological 
quarrels  between  the  Calvinists  and  Arminians. 

Besides  the  aristocratic  classes  in  the  cities,  the 
lawyers  were  mostly  on  the  side  of  Barneveldt. 
They  were  men  of  precedent,  and  tallied  much  of 
kings  and  subjects.  Even  when  making  war 
against  Philip,  they  kept  to  the  letter  of  the  law 
by  defying  his  commands  and  killing  his  subjects 
in  the  king’s  name.  The  Arminians  were  also 
,  with  Barneveldt  because  they,  like  Grotius  the 
lawyer  and  layman,  believed  that  the  state  should 
be  supreme  in  religious  matters,  regulate  all  doc' 
trines,  and  appoint  ministers. 


184 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


On  the  side  of  Maurice  stood  the  matter-of-fact 
people  who  no  longer  cared  for  what  the  books 
said  about  kings  and  subjects,  but  considered  that 
God  in  his  providence  had  made  them  a  nation. 
With  one  language,  one  blood,  and  common  inter¬ 
ests  against  a  deadly  foe,  they  were  no  longer 
Brabanters,  Zeelanders,  Frisians,  or  Hollanders, 
but  Dutchmen,  —  “een  volk,”  “eene  natie,”  and 
their  country  was  Nederland.  They  could  not 
understand  secession  or  the  assertion  of  ultra 
state-sovereignty  as  any  part  of  patriotism. 

The  ultra  -  democratic  Anabaptists,  demanding 
the  separation  of  church  and  state,  opposed  the 
aristocratic  Arminians.  The  Calvinists  were,  as 
a  matter  of  logic  and  of  course,  on  the  side  of 
Maurice,  and  altogether  in  favor  of  national 
unity. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE  UNION  MUST  AND  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED. 

Calvinism  never  breeds  poverty  or  arbitrary 
government,  but  makes  for  freedom,  democracy, 
republicanism,  popular  education,  and  the  rights 
of  men.  The  scholastic  Calvinism,  or  that  elabo¬ 
rated  in  later  days,  is,  in  spirit,  something  quite 
different  from  what  Calvin  himself  taught  in  the 
Genevan  republic.  Then  it  meant,  first  of  all, 
that  before  God  all  men  were  equal,  the  king  was 
no  more  than  any  other  vile  sinner.  The  elect  of 
God,  even  the  poor  and  unlearned,  were  higher  in 
his  sight  than  those  who  sat  on  thrones,  whether 
temporal  or  spiritual.  Chosen  from  all  eternity 
to  be  kings  and  priests  before  Him,  their  stand¬ 
ing  before  royal  upstarts  and  mushroom  popes 
gave  them  no  concern.  Fearing  God,  they  feared 
nothing  else.  The  Dutch  Calvinists  were  demo¬ 
cratic,  calling  and  electing  their  own  pastors,  and 
ordering  their  church  affairs  by  popular  vote. 

The  only  states  in  Nederland  which  had  strongly 
opposed  these  democratic  measures  of  the  Calvin¬ 
ists  were  Holland  and  Utrecht.  The  Reformed 
Churches  in  Nederland,  comprising  a  majority  of 
the  Dutch  people,  were  united  in  their  Calvinism, 


186 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


their  nationalism,  and  their  devotion  to  the  house 
of  Orange.  Again  they  raised  the  cry,  “  Oranje 
boven !  ”  They  cried  out,  “  The  Union  must  and 
shall  be  preserved.” 

The  quarrel  broke  out,  not  on  the  pretexts  of 
slavery,  its  extension  or  abolition,  not  on  protec¬ 
tion  or  free  trade,  but  on  theology.  Politics  were 
veiled  under  theology.  In  the  University  of  Ley¬ 
den,  in  1603,  two  professors,  Gomarus  and  Ar- 
minius,  differed  on  the  doctrines  of  grace  and  free 
will.  The  controversy  soon  spread  on  land  from 
Leyden  throughout  Nederland,  on  the  sea  among 
sailors  and  fishermen,  and  on  tongues  out  of  Latin 
into  low  Dutch.  After  years  of  wordy  war,  and 
many  local  disturbances,  a  national  synod  to  settle 
the  matter  was  called  to  meet  at  Dordrecht  in 
1618.  It  was  the  demand  of  the  people,  who 
were  bound  to  have  their  way  and  preserve  the 
union,  saving  the  state  by  means  of  the  church. 
Democracy  was  on  top.  It  was  officially  ordered 
by  Maurice,  who  was  advised  by  his  cousin  Lode- 
wyk  and  urged  to  action  by  his  friend  Count 
Louis  of  France.  The  latter  assured  him  that 
his  oath  to  defend  the  Deformed  religion  required 
him  to  call  a  national  synod. 

Barneveldt  by  his  influence  in  the  state  legis¬ 
lature  of  Holland  repudiated  the  national  synod, 
and  began  to  stir  up  the  state  and  city  govern¬ 
ments  against  Maurice  and  the  States-General. 
Local  troops  called  “  waard-gelders  ”  were  raised 


UNION  MUST  AND  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED.  187 


in  Holland  and  Utrecht.  Of  the  eighteen  hun¬ 
dred  men  enlisted,  one  thousand  were  in  Utrecht. 
Civil  war  was  imminent. 

The  States-General  had  had  one  experience  of 
secession  when,  in  1600,  the  state  of  Groningen, 
in  which  the  people  were  mostly  Roman  Catho¬ 
lics,  withdrew  from  the  Union  and  refused  to  pay 
its  quota  to  support  the  war.  The  other  states 
resolved  that  “  the  Union  must  and  shall  be  pre¬ 
served.”  A  commission  of  the  States-General 
and  one  thousand  of  the  national  troops  were  at 
once  sent  into  this  state.  The  burghers  were  dis¬ 
armed,  the  national  taxes  collected,  and  the  most 
obstinate  of  the  secession  leaders  sent  to  the 
States-General  at  the  Hague  to  explain  their 
conduct.  This  firmness  in  upholding  the  Union 
proved  sufficient.  A  delegation  of  citizens  came 
down  to  the  capital  to  signify  their  loyalty  and 
obedience.  The  States-General  made  them  pay 
roundly  for  the  trouble  they  had  given.  Four 
hundred  thousand  guilders  was  the  price  of  audi¬ 
ence,  after  which  everything  in  Groningen  went 
on  quietly. 

What  Groningen  had  attempted  in  1600,  Hol¬ 
land  and  Utrecht,  under  the  influence  of  Barne- 
veldt  and  the  powerful  aristocratic  party  in  the 
cities,  seemed  about  to  try  in  1618.  They  were 
foiled  by  the  decisive  action  of  Maurice,  who 
moved  skillfully,  and,  as  his  hostile  critics  say, 
under  the  advice  not  only  of  his  religious  friend, 


188 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Count  Louis  of  France,  but  also  of  his  political 
adviser,  Willem  Lodewyk,  the  stadtholder  of 
Friesland.  Undoubtedly  Maurice  overstepped  the 
limits  of  his  authority  and  erred  towards  the  side 
of  despotism.  Without  an  order  of  the  States- 
General,  he  had  Barneveldt,  with  Grotius  and 
Hoogerbeets,  the  pensionaries  of  Rotterdam  and 
Leyden,  arrested  and  imprisoned. 

The  great  synod,  or  Oecumenical  Protestant 
Council,  consisting  of  seventy-four  members  from 
Nederland  and  twenty-eight  from  England,  Ger¬ 
many,  and  Switzerland,  met  at  Dordrecht.  Eight¬ 
een  of  the  Dutch  members  were  political  com¬ 
missioners  sent  by  the  States-General.  In  reality 
this  was  a  political  gathering,  meeting  under  the 
cover  of  theology. 

In  Dutch  cities  one  sees  hotels,  streets,  and 
open  squares  named  Doelen.  Doel  means  a  tar¬ 
get,  and  doelen  places  where  men  shoot.  In  the 
hall  of  the  Doelen  the  synod  met.  Their  work 
was  to  kill  secession  as  much  as  to  uproot  heresy. 
They  meant  to  smite  state  right.  Barneveldt’s 
head  was  their  bull’s  eye. 

The  Arminians  were  denied  seats,  and  their 
condemnation  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  After 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  sessions,  from  Novem¬ 
ber  13th  to  May  6th,  the  Arminians  were  con¬ 
demned.  The  two  hundred  ejected  ministers  had 
their  salaries  paid,  and  eighty  of  them  who  re¬ 
belled  were,  at  government  expense,  transported 
out  of  the  country. 


UNION  MUST  AND  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED.  189 

On  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  May,  the  synod 
sat  down  to  a  gorgeous  banquet  in  honor  of  the 
foreign  delegates,  paid  for  by  the  city  of  Dor¬ 
drecht.  Musicians  with  lively  instruments  and  a 
female  choir  lent  sweet  strains,  which  mingled 
with  the  merry  clink  of  glasses,  from  which  Rhine 
wine  was  drained  in  joy.  Next  day  each  foreigner 
received  around  his  neck,  the  gift  of  the  States- 
General,  a  gold  chain  holding  a  gold  medal.  The 
great  political  -  theological  convention  was  over. 
It  cost  the  United  States  a  million  guilders,  or 
money  now  worth  two  millions  of  dollars. 

Four  days  later,  at  the  Hague,  the  date  in  mod¬ 
ern  style  being  May  24th,  the  foreign  guests  were 
treated  to  another  sensation.  In  the  Binnenhof, 
or  inner  court,  fronting  the  halls  of  the  States- 
General,  stood  a  scaffold.  A  surging  crowd  of 
people  looked  up  where  stood  a  venerable  man 
over  seventy  years  of  age.  It  was  John  of  Barne- 
veldt.  Under  the  executioner’s  sword  his  head 
rolled  on  the  boards.  Deodatus  of  Geneva  re¬ 
marked,  “  The  canons  of  Dordrecht  have  shot  it 
off.” 

Grotius,  the  great  lawyer,  had  been  imprisoned 
at  the  castle  of  Loevenstein.  His  clever  wife, 
who  shared  his  captivity,  had  him  conveyed  inside 
a  box,  used  for  books  and  linen,  outside  the  walls. 
Escaping  to  France,  he  afterwards  wrote  a  book 
which  is  to-day  the  basis  of  the  world’s  interna¬ 
tional  law.  Hoogerbeets  died  in  prison. 


190 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Thus,  though  excesses  and  injustice  were  com¬ 
mitted  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  union,  the  na¬ 
tional  cause  triumphed.  Nederland  kept  not  only 
her  union  of  states,  but  also  her  place  among  the 
nations. 

Thus,  also,  once,  and  only  once  in  all  Dutch 
history,  democracy  in  the  church  asserted  its 
sway  and  compelled  the  state  to  do  its  behest. 
The  Reformed  Churches  in  Nederland  have  inter¬ 
fered  in  politics  only  once.  Calvinism  is  still 
nominally  the  official  religion  of  the  kingdom. 
It  is  rather  the  form  of  religion  of  the  overwhelm¬ 
ing  majority  of  the  people.  Never  again,  in  all 
its  history,  did  it  become  as  political  as  in  1619. 
Then,  for  the  sake  of  maintaining  the  Union  and 
stamping  out  secession,  it  upheld  Maurice  and 
condemned  Barneveldt. 

In  theology  Nemesis  and  reaction  soon  came. 
Within  fifty  years  the  Arminians  were  all  back 
and  peaceably  active.  Descartes  taught  the  new 
philosophy  of  doubt.  Liberalism  in  religious 
opinion  became  general.  The  bloodless  but  trou¬ 
blesome  controversies  of  Yoetius  and  Coccejus 
broke  out.  The  former  represented  what  was 
conservative  and  scholastic,  the  latter  what  was 
progressive  and  independent.  Coccejus  is  usually 
regarded  as  the  father  of  the  Biblical  theology 
which  is  so  popular  in  our  day.  After  Descartes 
came  Spinoza,  and  after  Coccejus,  Kuenen. 

It  is  remarkable  that  at  the  first  ordination  of 


UNION  MUST  AND  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED.  191 

a  Reformed  clergyman  in  America,  in  1679,  the 
differences  between  the  Yoetians  and  Coccejans 
were  manifest.  The  four  Dutch  clergymen  then 
in  New  Nederland  were  all  Coccejans,  while  the 
Rev.  Petrus  Thesschenmacker  was  a  Voetian. 
Nevertheless  he  was  ordained.  In  1690  he  per¬ 
ished  in  the  Indian  massacre  at  Schenectady, 
during  King  William’s  war,  when  Holland  and 
Great  Britain  fought  for  the  principles  of  the 
Reformation  against  Louis  XIV.,  who  represented 
Roman  ideas.  On  the  spot  where  the  domine’s 
ashes  were  mingled  with  those  of  his  log  parsonage, 
now  stands  a  magnificent  church  edifice.  On  the 
stained  glass  wheel  window  are  emblazoned  the 
coat  of  arms  of  William  the  Silent,  with  this 
scripture  in  Latin,  Nisi  Dominus  frustra  (With¬ 
out  God  all  is  vain),  and  the  motto  of  the  Dutch 
republic,  Eendracht  maakt  macht  (Unity  makes 
strength). 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS  IN  LEYDEN. 

The  relations  between  Nederland  and  England 
were  in  every  way  closer  and  more  friendly  dur¬ 
ing  the  war  for  independence  than  they  have  ever 
been  since.  Soldiers  by  the  tens  of  thousands, 
merchants,  traders,  sailors,  clergymen,  exiles,  and 
refugees  by  the  thousands,  visited  or  lived  in  Hol¬ 
land  or  in  the  other  Dutch  states.  Many  of  these 
had  their  wives  and  children  with  them.  Among 
the  most  touching  inscriptions  on  the  tombs  in  the 
Dutch  churches  and  cemeteries  are  those  in  mem¬ 
ory  of  English  wives,  sweethearts,  and  children. 

Probably  an  average  of  twelve  thousand  Eng¬ 
lish-speaking  people  lived  in  the  Low  Countries 
from  1580  to  1640,  the  great  majority  being  in 
the  republic.  The  English  military  commanders 
sometimes  complained  of  the  frequent  marriages 
between  their  officers  and  men  and.  the  Dutch 
maidens,  as  tending  to  weaken  discipline.  The 
great  number  of  people  from  Scotland  visiting  or 
settling  in  Holland  is  recalled  to-day  by  the  Scot¬ 
tish  dyke  in  Rotterdam,  Scottish  names  of  Dutch 
families,  and  “  Scottish  apothecaries,”  to  whom 
English  is  unknown  or  a  strange  tongue.  The 


THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS  IN  LEYDEN.  19B 

Scottish  Presbyterian  Church  in  Rotterdam  cele¬ 
brated  its  quarter-millennial  anniversary  Septem¬ 
ber  14,  1898. 

One  magnetic  reason  why  so  many  Protestant 
people  from  the  southern  or  Spanish  Netherlands 
and  from  Great  Britain,  Jews  from  Spain,  Portu¬ 
gal,  and  Germany,  and  Anabaptists  from  all  over 
Europe,  came  to  live  under  the  Dutch  flag,  was 
toleration.  Nederland  stood  nearly  alone  in  all 
Europe  in  offering  religious  freedom  to  all  men. 
It  is  true  that  only  the  Reformed  or  Protestant 
Christian  religion  was  publicly  tolerated.  All 
processions,  street  and  open  air  meetings  and  fes¬ 
tivals  were  forbidden  to  all  not  of  the  Reformed 
faith.  The  Jews,  Catholics,  and  all  who  refused, 
like  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  any  connection  with  or 
patronage  of  the  State,  were  allowed  full  liberty 
of  worship  in  private  houses ;  or,  if  they  built  a 
church  edifice,  it  must  on  the  outside  look  like  a 
dwelling-house.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  old 
Roman  Catholic  churches  in  Nederland,  even  when 
very  rich,  are  usually  in  back  streets  or  out  of  the 
way  places.  From  the  street  they  look  just  like 
ordinary  house  fronts.  However,  except  that  no 
public  parades  were  allowed,  and  plain  fronts 
were  the  rule,  the  inside  might  be  as  large,  as 
rich,  and  as  full  of  altars  and  emblems  as  a  cathe¬ 
dral. 

At  the  World’s  Fair  in  Chicago,  1893,  there 
was  an  imposing  peristyle,  in  which  each  column 


194 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


represented  a  State  in  the  American  Union.  On 
the  f a$ade  was  an  inscription  setting  forth  what  is 
the  greatest  achievement  of  the  race  during  the 
past  four  hundred  years.  What  is  it  ? 

It  is  toleration  in  religion.  This  is  the  cor¬ 
ner-stone  on  which  our  Constitution  rests.  The 
United  States  of  America  is  a  permanent  Parlia¬ 
ment  of  Religions.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  tol¬ 
eration  in  religion  was  looked  upon  as  a  sin.  It 
was  not  only  an  oddity,  but  a  crime.  The  Dutch 
led  the  way  in  being  odd,  and  also  in  being  prac¬ 
tically  Christian.  Amsterdam  was  called  the  hot¬ 
bed  of  sects  and  heresies.  Brave  little  Holland 
led  the  world  in  religious  liberty. 

The  tourist  who  to-day  goes  into  the  Jewish 
quarter  in  Amsterdam,  beyond  the  diamond-pol¬ 
ishing  factories,  will  see  many  houses  with  bas- 
reliefs  of  scenes  from  the  Old  Testament  on  their 
fronts.  Here  is  sleeping  Jacob  dreaming  angel 
dreams  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  Moses  smiting 
the  rock,  the  ravens  feeding  Elijah.  Most  touch¬ 
ing  to  the  heart  is  one  which  tells  its  own  story. 
A  ravenous  hawk  is  pursuing  a  dove.  With  fiery 
cruel  eyes,  and  talons  just  ready  to  tear  and  beak 
to  devour,  the  hawk  is  balked  of  its  prey,  because 
the  little  bird  reaches  the  dovecote  safely.  Un¬ 
derneath  this  is  the  magic  word  “Amsterdam.” 
Hunted,  driven,  robbed,  murdered,  burnt  in  every 
land  in  Europe,  the  sons  of  Israel  found  the  prom¬ 
ised  land  of  peace  and  freedom  within  the  dykes. 


THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS  IN  LEYDEN.  195 

To  the  English,  French,  Italian,  and  other  Pro¬ 
testant  refugees,  the  Dutch  government  granted 
houses  of  worship  free  of  rent  or  taxes,  and 
usually  paid  the  salary  of  the  ministers.  In  at 
least  twenty-three  towns  or  cities  there  were 
churches  of  English-speaking  people.  Those  of 
Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  and  Flushing  still  remain. 
While  other  British  folk  took  advantage  of  the 
generosity  of  the  government  and  occupied  the 
houses  of  worship  offered  them,  why  would  not 
the  men  who  founded  Massachusetts  do  the  same  ? 
Let  us  see  what  sort  of  people  the  Pilgrims  —  the 
men  first  of  three  counties  and  then  of  three  coun¬ 
tries  —  were. 

The  little  town  of  Scrooby  is  situated  in  the 
north  corner  of  Nottinghamshire  where  the  three 
counties  of  Notts,  York,  and  Lincoln  come  to¬ 
gether.  Here  William  Brewster,  who  had  as  a 
youth  visited  Holland  with  Davison,  Queen  Eliz¬ 
abeth’s  Secretary  of  State,  was  post  agent.  No 
letters  for  common  people  were  carried  by  the 
post  in  those  days,  but  the  post  agent  furnished 
horses  for  the  king’s  messengers  and  kept  an  inn 
for  man  and  beast.  Brewster’s  office  was  in  the 
manor  house  of  the  Archbishop  of  York,  who  had 
a  castle  or  summer  house  here.  The  American 
who  visits  Scrooby  to-day  finds  in  a  meadow  the 
foundation  lines  of  the  old  palace,  and  the  hollows 
of  the  fish-ponds  where  Friday  meat  was  kept 
alive  and  swimming.  He  traces  the  old  ditch,  or 


196 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


moat,  now  more  tlian  half  filled  up,  looks  at  the 
crooked  little  Idle  River,  which  he  would  call  a 
creek,  glances  at  or  goes  inside  the  old  palace 
kitchen  or  servants’  house,  now  a  post-office,  and 
then  moves  out  into  the  cow-house  and  stables. 

Why  ? 

Because  cow-houses  are  not  usually  raftered 
with  carved  oak,  yet  here  under  the  red  tiles  and 
over  the  heads  of  the  horses  and  lowing  oxen  are 
superbly  carved  beams  of  old  oak,  dark  with  the 
centuries  of  time-staining.  These  were  once  the 
ceiling-timbers  of  the  refectory,  or  chapel,  of  the 
archiepiscopal  palace  which  stood  hard  by.  It 
was  under  these  oaken  beams  that  the  cradle  of 
Massachusetts  history  began  to  rock.  Here  the 
Pilgrim  church  was  born.  In  1604  John  Robin¬ 
son,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  University,  was 
their  pastor. 

These  people  were  Independents.  They  held 
very  much  the  same  ideas  in  church  government 
as  did  the  Anabaptists.  It  was  in  and  around 
Norwich,  in  the  English  counties  of  England 
where  the  Dutch  Anabaptists  were  most  numer¬ 
ous,  that  the  Independents,  first-  under  Robert 
Browne,  took  their  rise.  They  were  called  Brown- 
ists.  The  members  of  the  first  church  of  these 
Independents,  formed  in  London  in  1593,  were 
promptly  clapped  into  prison.  Their  three  lead¬ 
ers,  Barrowe,  Greenwood,  and  Penry,  were  put  to 
death.  England,  with  her  political  church,  was 


THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS  IN  LEYDEN.  197 


determined  not  to  tolerate  “  heresy.”  Scores  of 
other  heretics  of  the  same  sort  were  beheaded, 
hanged,  or  died  in  the  filthy  prisons. 

With  like  treatment  theatening  them,  their 
houses  watched  and  their  footsteps  dogged  by 
spies,  those  Scrooby  Christians  resolved  to  follow 
Brewster’s  advice  and  go  where  “  they  knew  that 
religion  was  free  to  all  men,”  —  to  the  Dutch  re¬ 
public. 

These  poor  people,  mostly  farmers  and  mechan¬ 
ics,  but  led  by  high-souled  men,  had  a  hard  time 
of  it  in  getting  away.  They  were  betrayed  by  an 
English  captain  at  Boston,  and  thrown  into  jail. 
Near  Grimsby  the  women  were  left  on  shore  and 
deserted,  by  a  Dutch  skipper,  after  the  men  had 
got  on  board,  because  the  soldiers  sent  to  arrest 
the  party  were  appearing  over  the  hill.  After 
storms  and  troubles  on  ocean  and  the  Zuyder  Zee, 
they  arrived  in  Amsterdam,  living  there  a  year. 
One  can  still  see  their  old  meeting-house  in 
what  the  Dutch  housewife  will  tell  you  is  called 
“  Brownisten  gang  ”  (Brownists’  Alley). 

Robinson  soon  found  there  was  danger  of  his 
people  losing  a  great  idea  in  trivial  questions 
about  old  clothes.  He  therefore  applied  to  the 
burgomaster  and  law-holders  of  Leyden  for  per¬ 
mission  to  live  in  that  city.  This  was  granted, 
and  their  boat  journey  out  of  Amsterdam  and 
over  the  Haarlem  Lake,  among  the  flowery  and 
cow-dotted  meadows,  was  made  in  the  spring  of 


198 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND.' 


1609,  to  the  city  of  the  heroic  siege.  All  was 
now  peace,  for  the  twelve  years  truce  had  begun. 

In  Leyden,  these  exiles  for  conscience’  sake, 
mostly  farmers,  had  to  work  hard  at  mechanical 
trades  to  get  a  living.  The  boys  became  servants 
and  helped  in  the  breweries,  brickyards,  hat  fac¬ 
tories,  and  woolen  mills.  The  men  were  carpen¬ 
ters,  coopers,  bricklayers,  weavers,  dyers.  Some 
made  gloves,  pipes,  pumps,  stockings,  or  the  va¬ 
rious  sorts  of  serge,  baize,  felt,  fustian,  blankets, 
etc.  They  were  honest  people,  not  ashamed  to 
work.  They  and  the  Dutch  were  great  friends. 
Brewster  taught  Latin,  and  later  kept  a  printing- 
office.  Probably  most  of  the  adults,  and  every 
one  of  the  children,  learned  to  speak  Dutch, 
while  the  smaller  boys  and  girls  went  to  the  pub¬ 
lic  schools.  Several  of  the  leading  men  paid 
extra  taxes  and  became  citizens  of  Leyden.  This 
gave  them  a  great  experience  in  politics.  They 
learned  the  ways  of  a  republic  and  how  to  build 
one  in  America. 

They  prospered  so  well  that  in  two  years  they 
were  able  to  save  considerable  money  and  to  buy 
a  big  house  for  their  pastor,  and  a  lot  on  which 
to  erect  twenty-one  small  houses  for  their  fami¬ 
lies.  They  paid  eight  thousand  guilders,  or  three 
thousand  two  hundred  dollars,  for  the  estate ;  or 
what  would  be  worth  now  about  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  in  gold.  The  situation  was  in 
Bell  Alley,  a  neat  little  brick -paved  street 


THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS  IN  LEYDEN.  199 

which  runs  along  the  great  Saint  Peter’s  Church, 
first  built  in  A.  D.  1112.  They  were  only  three 
lots  away  from  the  University  building,  library 
and  garden,  and  the  canal  on  the  ancient  Rapen- 
burg,  where  now  stands  the  famous  Japanese  Mu¬ 
seum.  Directly  in  front  of  them  was  the  main 
entrance  to  the  great  cathedral. 

The  Pilgrim  folk  were  not  alone  in  Leyden, 
for  besides  the  British  soldiers  like  Miles  S tan- 
dish  and  his  company,  there  were  hundreds  of 
merchants,  contractors,  weavers,  mechanics,  and 
students.  Furthermore,  they  lived  right  next 
door  to  the  English  and  Scottish  church  of  which 
Rev.  Robert  Durie  was  pastor,  in  which  were 
one  hundred  and  thirty  -  five  English  -  speaking 
families. 

From  the  first,  English  -  speaking  students 
flocked  to  Leyden  because  it  was  so  famous. 
After  the  English  universities  had  been  closed 
to  Dissenters,  most  of  the  non-conformist  Eng¬ 
lish  ministers,  lawyers,  and  doctors,  as  likewise 
many  from  the  American  colonies,  including  the 
sons  of  John  Adams,  were  educated  at  Leyden. 
Between  1573  and  1873  no  fewer  than  four  thou¬ 
sand  seven  hundred  students  from  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  were  educated  in  Leyden 
University.  In  the  Senate  room  was  early  be¬ 
gun,  with  the  picture  of  William  the  Silent,  a 
collection  of  oil  paintings  of  the  great  teachers 
and  patrons  of  the  University.  From  William 


200 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


to  Kuenen,  these  faces  form  this  great  school’s 
best  proof  of  worth  and  title  to  fame.  Few  uni¬ 
versities  can  show  such  a  galaxy  of  intellect. 
This  best  of  collections  is  the  original  after 
which  those  in  other  European  and  American 
universities  have  been  formed. 

Besides  these  British  folk  from  England,  Scot¬ 
land,  Ireland,  and  Wales,  there  were  many  Wal¬ 
loons  and  Huguenots,  or  French  Protestants,  liv¬ 
ing  in  Leyden,  enjoying  the  freedom  of  the  city. 
One  of  them  was  named  Jesse  de  Forest,  who  had 
ideas  about  America  and  colonization,  and  who 
began  to  broach  them  about  1615.  He  made 
application  to  the  States  -  General,  but  received 
no  encouragement.  Barneveldt  was  opposed  to 
colonization.  He  thought  all  the  energies  of  Ne¬ 
derland  should  be  concentrated  at  home.  Maurice 
and  the  Calvinists,  however,  favored  settlements 
abroad.  It  turned  out  that  only  Dutch  Calvinists 
settled  in  America. 

To-day  a  visitor  in  the  Klok  Steeg  of  Leyden 
may  read  on  the  memorial  stone  which,  in  1865, 
was  set  in  the  front  of  the  present  Jean  Pesyn 
Hof,  the  words,  “  On  this  spot  lived,  taught,  and 
died  John  Bobinson,  1611-1625.”  On  the  op¬ 
posite  side,  on  the  wall  of  Saint  Peter’s  Church 
is  a  large  bronze  tablet,  erected  by  the  National 
Council  of  the  Congregational  churches  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  to  the  memory  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and 
their  pastor.  It  was  unveiled  July  24,  1891. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE  PILGRIMS  EMIGRATE  TO  AMERICA. 

The  Pilgrims  in  Leyden  could  have  had  a 
house  of  worship,  rent  free,  had  they  joined  with 
their  other  countrymen  or  used  the  old  chapel  of 
the  Veiled  Nun’s  Cloister,  as  did  the  other  Brit¬ 
ish  folk.  This  they  did  not  do  for  two  reasons. 
They  were  not  Puritans  in  their  ideas  of  church 
government.  They  would  not  worship  in  edifices 
once  used  by  Roman  Catholics.  Yet  besides 
these  two  reasons  they  had  a  better  and  a  no¬ 
bler  motive.  They  believed  in  the  separation  of 
church  and  state,  of  politics  from  religion.  In 
this  they  were  far  ahead  of  the  Puritans.  They 
therefore  made  no  application  to  the  Dutch  mag¬ 
istrates  for  a  church  edifice.  Instead,  they  made 
use  of  the  parlor  or  chief  room  of  Robinson’s 
house  for  preaching  and  worship.  This  they 
could  easily  do,  for  in  all  they  numbered  only 
about  three  hundred.  In  their  conduct  they 
were  good  Americans  before  they  thought  of 
America. 

Eleven  happy  years  these  English  and  exiles 
lived  in  freedom.  The  records  in  the  Town  Hall 
in  Leyden  and  the  University,  and  their  own 


202 


BBAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


writings,  tell  their  story.  They  bought  and  sold 
land  and  houses,  they  mixed  in  city  politics. 
They  learned  Dutch  thrift,  patience,  neatness, 
cleanliness,  faith,  courage,  toleration,  to  reinforce 
their  own  sturdy  English  virtues.  They  saw 
before  them  public  schools,  orphan  asylums, 
homes  for  the  aged  and  poor,  centuries  old,  a  free 
press,  with  courts,  prisons,  and  other  things  in 
the  republic  far  excelling  what  existed  in  Eng¬ 
land.  Robinson  and  Brewster  became  members 
of  the  University,  which  gave  them  especial  privi¬ 
leges,  so  that  they  could  buy  enough  wine  or  brew 
sufficient  beer  without  tax  to  supply  most  of  the 
congregation,  a  good  thing  when,  there  being  no 
tea  or  coffee,  beer  was  their  daily  beverage  and  a 
necessity. 

There  were  many  pretty  and  curious  things  for 
the  Pilgrim  boys  and  girls  to  see,  for  Leyden 
was  a  great  city  of  one  hundred  thousand  people 
with  markets,  parades,  museums,  sports,  games, 
and  much  to  amuse  one  on  the  canals  and  streets. 
In  the  centre  was  the  great  round  Burg  or  castle 
of  brick  whence  they  could  look  out  over  the 
country  where  the  Spanish  forts  had  stood  dur¬ 
ing  the  heroic  siege,  the  story  of  which  they  so 
often  heard.  Some  of  these  English  lads  mar¬ 
ried  Dutch  girls,  and  Dutchmen  wooed  away  the 
English  maidens,  but  most  of  them  married 
among  their  own  company.  It  is  very  amusing 
to  read  the  intentions  of  marriage  in  the  Leyden 


THE  PILGRIMS  EMIGRATE  TO  AMERICA.  20B 


archives,  and  note  how  the  English  names  of 
blushing  maidens  and  bashful  youth  sounded  in 
Dutch  ears.  The  English  spelling  of  Dutch 
names  shows  how  easily  one  is  changed  into  the 
other. 

The  young  men  and  boys  in  Robinson’s  con¬ 
gregation  learned  all  about  Union  and  secession, 
state-right  and  central  power,  and  much  about 
government,  during  their  stay  in  Leyden.  The 
trumpets  and  drums  of  war  were  quiet,  but  the 
placards  and  political  advertisements  pasted  upon 
pumps,  walls,  bridges,  and  curbstones  told  how 
excited  the  adherents  of  Maurice  and  of  Barne- 
veldt  were.  On  one  occasion  they  saw  Broad 
Street  in  front  of  the  City  Hall  barricaded,  and 
the  Arminians  intrenched  in  a  kind  of  fort 
against  the  Calvinists.  For  a  time  it  looked  as 
if  there  would  be  fighting  in  the  streets  of  Ley¬ 
den  between  the  Waard-gelders,  or  city  guards, 
and  the  national  troops. 

The  sympathies  of  pastor  Robinson  and  his 
flock  were  on  the  side  of  the  Union.  They  were 
in  favor  of  Calvinism  and  democratic  principles, 
and  against  the  Arminians  and  state-rights  men 
of  Holland,  who  threatened  secession.  Robinson 
publicly  debated  with  Episcopius,  the  champion 
who  succeeded  to  leadership  after  the  death  of 
Arminius.  Robinson  also  probably  attended  the 
national  and  international  synod  at  Dordrecht, 
and  rejoiced  in  its  verdict.  The  Pilgrims  were 


204 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


all  strongly  Calvinistic  in  theology  and  democratic 
in  government,  like  the  Dutch  churchmen.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  Robinson,  besides  his  the¬ 
ological  interests,  was  even  more  delighted  with 
the  after  legislation,  or  post-acta ,  of  the  synod. 
These  provided  for  the  right  relations  between 
ministers  and  magistrates,  for  schools  and  edu¬ 
cation,  for  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible,  and 
foreign  missions,  and  for  work  of  colonization,  in¬ 
cluding  schools  and  schoolmasters  in  Asia,  Africa, 
and  America.  The  translation  of  “  the  States 
Bible,”  the  version  still  in  use,  was  done  in  Ley¬ 
den. 

By  the  time  the  national  synod  was  over,  civil 
war  averted,  the  union  of  states  maintained,  and 
peace  at  home  assured,  the  country  began  to  re¬ 
sound  with  the  drums  and  trumpets  of  drill  mas¬ 
ters  and  recruiting  officers.  The  truce  over,  war 
with  Spain  was  to  begin  in  1621.  This  to  the 
older  men  and  women  among  the  Pilgrims  was 
distressing,  but  to  the  big  boys  and  young  men  it 
was  delightful.  They  were  enthusiastic  at  the 
idea  of  fighting  for  freedom  under  the  orange, 
white,  and  blue  flag  of  the  Union.  They  enlisted 
in  such  numbers  in  the  Dutch  armies  as  to  alarm 
their  parents.  Robinson,  Brewster,  and  some 
others  now  saw  that  if  they  were  to  remain  in 
Holland  they  would  all  become  Dutch,  and  their 
distinct  existence  as  Separatists  be  lost.  To  hold 
their  church  and  company  together  they  must 


THE  PILGRIMS  EMIGRATE  TO  AMERICA.  205 


emigrate.  They  wanted  to  propagate  their  doc¬ 
trines  and  keep  strictly  the  Sabbath. 

The  Dutch  were  no  Puritans  in  dress,  speech, 
or  in  Jewish  ideas  of  keeping  Sunday,  or  the 
Lord’s  Day.  One  never  reads  of  a  peculiar  dress 
or  fashion  of  speech  among  the  Dutch,  like  those 
in  vogue  among  the  English  Puritans.  The  Ne- 
derlanders,  though  strong  Calvinists,  loved  music 
and  art,  kept  organs  in  their  churches,  and  the 
violin  and  flute  in  their  homes,  loved  fun  and 
amusements,  enjoyed  the  Kermiss,  and  made  Sun¬ 
day  a  day  of  rest,  prayer,  worship,  but  also  of 
innocent  enjoyment.  Yet  in  any  large  city  like 
Leyden  there  were  many  things  objectionable, 
besides  temptations  to  the  serious-minded. 

Where  should  the  Pilgrims  go  to  avoid  the 
Spanish  invasion,  and  perpetuate  their  church  ? 
To  England  ?  That  meant  imprisonment  and 
death.  To  any  other  European  country  ?  That 
meant  more  loneliness,  harder  work,  and  poverty, 
and  learning  another  language.  To  America? 
But  oh,  the  wide  ocean  and  its  dangers,  and  the 
red  Indian  with  his  warwhoop  and  scalping 
knife  !  Yet  between  the  Spaniards  who  tortured 
men  in  the  name  of  God,  and  murdered  heretics 
by  the  thousands,  and  the  savages  who  cut  collops 
out  of  the  living  flesh,  there  was  little  to  choose. 
They  therefore  resolved  to  go  to  America.  Kob- 
inson’s  first  idea  was  to  settle  among  the  Dutch 
in  New  Netherland,  in  the  Hudson  River  region. 


206 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


In  the  first  year  of  the  great  truce,  1609,  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  which  had  been 
formed  in  1602,  sent  out  a  ship  manned  by  Dutch 
sailors,  but  commanded  by  an  Englishman,  Henry 
Hudson.  He  entered  “  the  river  of  the  Moun¬ 
tains,”  or  the  Shatemuc,  long  afterwards  named 
the  Hudson,  and  sailed  up  as  far  as  Troy.  The 
Dutch  called  this  noble  river  after  Prince  Mau¬ 
rice.  Maurice  was  in  favor  of  colonization,  Bar- 
neveldt  opposed  it.  They  named  the  new-found 
country,  not  after  the  Low  Countries,  New  Neth¬ 
erlands,  but  after  their  own  republic,  New  Neder¬ 
land.  Five  years  later,  in  1614,  a  few  huts  were 
built  on  Manhattan  Island,  trade  was  opened  with 
the  Indians,  and  Dutch  ships  began  to  come  up 
the  bay  and  stop  for  water  and  fresh  provisions. 

In  Leyden,  a  Walloon  named  Jesse  de  Forest 
began,  in  1615,  to  talk  about  starting  a  colony  in 
New  Nederland.  He  hoped  to  settle  fifty  or  sixty 
Walloon  families  on  Manhattan  Island.  Possibly 
with  him  Bobinson  may  have  conferred.  At  any 
rate,  early  in  the  year  1620,  the  pastor  of  the 
Pilgrims,  having  in  view  a  much  larger  enterprise 
than  the  later  Mayflower  expedition,  made  a  com¬ 
munication  to  the  Dutch  West  India  Company, 
proposing  to  settle  with  four  hundred  families, 
including  the  Independents  from  England  as  well 
as  from  Leyden.  The  Amsterdam  merchants,  in 
their  letter  to  the  States-General,  dated  February 
12,  generously  offered  to  furnish  free  passage 


THE  PILGRIMS  EMIGRATE  TO  AMERICA.  207 


across  the  ocean  to  the  Leyden  Englishmen,  with 
the  gift  of  cows  and  land.  They  also  asked  the 
States-General  to  furnish  two  ships  of  war  and 
military  protection  against  the  Spaniards,  who 
would  be  only  too  glad  to  break  up  a  nest  of  her¬ 
etics  in  America,  which  they  called  New  Spain. 

This  the  government  was  unable  to  do,  as  the 
war  was  to  begin  in  a  few  months,  and  every  man 
and  ship  was  needed  at  home.  Robinson,  Brad¬ 
ford,  and  others  then  turned  to  England  for  aid. 
They  had  hard  work  to  move  the  Englishmen, 
but  after  months  of  entreaty,  many  letters,  and 
journeyings  to  and  fro  between  Holland  and  Eng¬ 
land,  they  succeeded  in  borrowing  some  money 
on  very  hard  terms.  They  then  chartered  the 
ship  Speedwell,  of  less  tonnage  than  an  Erie 
canal-boat.  The  younger  and  stronger  members 
of  the  congregation  packed  their  goods  on  boats 
drawn  by  horses,  and  bade  farewell  to  beautiful 
Leyden  July  21.  Traveling  down  the  canal, 
past  the  Hague  and  through  Delft,  they  took 
the  Speedwell  at  Delfshaven.  Sailing  down  the 
Maas  and  crossing  over  to  England,  they  were 
joined  at  Southampton  by  others  of  like  mind, 
among  whom  was  John  Alden.  These  were  ready 
in  the  ship  Mayflower  to  sail  with  them  to  Vir¬ 
ginia.  The  two  ships,  leaving  Southampton  Au¬ 
gust  20,  stopped  for  a  week  at  Dartmouth,  and 
later  at  Plymouth ;  but  when  they  had  together 
reached  Land’s  End,  the  Speedwell  was  declared 


208 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


unseawortliy,  and  both  vessels  put  back'  to  Plyrn* 
outh.  Only  the  strongest  and  healthiest,  still 
undaunted,  insisted  on  going  to  America,  and 
these  were  crowded  together  in  the  larger  ship. 

In  the  Mayflower,  which  finally  left  Old  Eng¬ 
land  behind  on  the  16th  of  September,  for  a  risky 
voyage  in  a  dangerous  time  of  year,  were  one 
hundred  and  two  men,  women,  boys,  and  girls,  as 
passengers,  beside  captain  and  crew.  These  were 
of  English,  Dutch,  French,  and  Irish  ancestry, 
and  thus  typical  of  our  national  stock.  At  least 
one  third  of  the  company  were  boys  and  girls, 
most  of  whom  had  been  born  in  Holland. 

In  the  midst  of  the  voyage  the  ship  nearly  went 
to  pieces  in  a  storm,  but  fortunately  a  Dutch 
sailor  providing  a  good  piece  of  Delft  hardware, 
the  ship’s  timbers  were  held  together.  They 
sighted  Cape  Cod  November  19,  and  December 
21  landed,  and  on  Christmas  Day  began  to  build 
their  houses.  Later,  other  emigrants,  mostly 
from  Leyden,  came  on.  The  older  people  left 
behind  in  Leyden  were  mostly  dead  or  gone  by 
1655,  when  all  traces  of  them  disappear  from  the 
Dutch  records. 

Plymouth,  in  its  first  years,  looked  far  more 
like  a  Dutch  than  an  English  town,  and  not  a  few 
Dutch  customs  were  practiced  by  the  Pilgrims. 
In  the  name  of  the  colony,  Bradford  expressed  to 
the  Dutch  envoy,  de  Razieres,  in  1627,  their  grat¬ 
itude  for  the  kind  treatment  received  in  Holland. 


THE  PILGRIMS  EMIGRATE  TO  AMERICA.  209 

In  1643,  after  the  example  of  the  United  States 
of  Nederland,  and  most  probably  suggested  by 
the  Plymouth  men,  the  New  Englanders  formed 
a  confederation,  of  which  Massachusetts  was  the 
Holland,  or  preponderating  member.  In  1690 
the  Plymouth,  or  Old  Colony,  was  swallowed  up 
in  the  Bay,  or  Massachusetts  Colony.  After  that, 
in  common  American  idea  and  history,  the  Pil¬ 
grims,  although  they  had  imbibed  the  Dutch 
spirit  of  toleration  in  religion,  and  had  practiced 
them  by  having  fellowship  with  Miles  Standish 
the  Roman  Catholic,  Roger  Williams  the  Radical, 
and  John  Alden  the  Irishman,  were  confounded 
with  the  Puritans.  Only  of  late  has  the  distinc¬ 
tion  been  popularly  made  between  these  Separa¬ 
tists  and  the  men  who  united  church  and  state. 

It  was  not  until  1849  that  English,  helping 
American,  scholars  discovered  the  Pilgrims’  birth¬ 
place  and  origin  at  Scrooby  and  Austerfield. 
Later,  Dutch  first,  and  then  American,  research 
unfolded  the  story  of  their  life  in  Holland.  The 
Dutch  influence  in  the  making  of  New  England, 
as  well  as  of  the  United  States,  has  not  yet  been 
justly  or  impartially  shown  in  our  popular  books 
of  history,  but  it  is  great.  In  our  government 
and  ideas,  the  American  people  are  more  Dutch 
than  English.  We  are  every  year  outgrowing 
the  narrower  of  the  Puritan  ideals,  and  entering 
into  those  of  the  tolerant,  sweetly  reasonable  Pil¬ 
grims,  the  men  of  three  homes  and  civilizations. 


CHAPTER  XXYII. 


THE  DUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Besides  planting  colonies  in  Brazil,  Guiana, 
and  the  West  Indies,  and  in  parts  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  the  Dutch  began  settlements  in  North 
America,  in  New  Netherland.  Colonization  was 
part  of  the  Union  and  war  policy  of  Maurice  and 
the  Calvinists,  so  that  almost  all  of  the  first 
Dutch  settlers  of  New  Netherland  were  hearty 
upholders  of  the  national  church.  Their  Heidel¬ 
berg  Catechism  and  their  Bibles,  with  their  semi¬ 
clerical  Comforters  of  the  Sick,  were  brought  to 
America  on  the  very  first  ships  sailing  into  New 
York  bay. 

The  skippers  also  made  explorations  along  the 
coast.  Block  Island,  after  Captain  Blok,  Rhode 
Island  after  the  Dutch  Rood  Eilandt  (Red 
Island),  Cape  May  after  Captain  May,  Staten 
Island  after  the  Staaten  or  States-General,  Hou- 
satonic  for  Woestenhoek,  or  Desert  Corner,  and 
numerous  other  names  in  the  middle  and  ad¬ 
joining  States,  are  but  a  few  proofs  of  the  Dutch 
explorers’  activity. 

The  trading  station  and  fort  on  Manhattan 
Island  was  built  in  1618,  destroyed  by  the  Eng- 


THE  DUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 


211 


lish  and  rebuilt  next  year.  Near  the  head  of 
river  navigation  on  the  site  of  Albany,  Fort 
Orange  (in  Dutch  O-ran'-je)  was  erected.  Here, 
under  the  commander  Oelkens,  was  begun  the 
league  of  friendship  with  the  confederacy  of  the 
Five  Nations  or  Iroquois  Indians.  Under  Arendt 
van  Curler,  this  league  of  peace  became  a  per¬ 
manent  institution,  which  mightily  helped  to  de¬ 
cide  the  possession  of  the  North  American  conti¬ 
nent  by  men  of  Teutonic  ideas.  The  old  conflict 
between  Latin  and  Germanic  civilization,  as  rep¬ 
resented  by  Spain  and  Holland,  was  to  be  trans¬ 
ferred  to  America,  and  many  wars  were  to  be 
fought ;  but  until  the  Revolution,  which  divided 
British  and  Americans,  the  Iroquois  remained 
faithful  to  “  the  covenant  of  Corlaer.”  It  was 
very  near  the  traditional  birthplace  of  their  great 
culture-hero  or  founder  of  Iroquois  civilization, 
Hiawatha,  and  to  their  famous  Tawasentha  or 
ancestral  burying  “  place  of  many  dead,”  that 
the  Dutch  established  Fort  Orange.  The  Dutch 
pronounced  this  name  so  that  to  English  ears  it 
sounded  like  the  name  of  the  Cunard  steamer 
Aurania,  which  has  been  named  in  compliment 
to  the  people  of  New  York. 

In  1623,  eighteen  Dutch  families  settled  at 
Fort  Orange,  forming  a  wyck  or  manor,  named 
after  the  proprietor  Van  Rensselaer,  a  pearl  mer¬ 
chant  in  Amsterdam,  Rensselaerwyck.  Thirty 
Dutch  families  at  the  same  time  made  Manhattan 


212 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Island  their  home.  A  number  of  Walloons  set* 
tied  near  Brooklyn,  in  a  boght  or  bend  in  the 
East  River,  called  the  Walloon’s  Boght,  now  cor¬ 
rupted  into  Wallabout.  Gradually  other  hamlets 
and  villages  sprang  up,  and  this,  although  the 
men  of  the  little  republic  were  fighting  Spaniards 
at  home,  and  sending  exploring  expeditions  to  the 
pole  and  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  There  came  to 
America  from  Nederland  about  fifteen  thousand 
permanent  settlers,  all  Calvinists  and  strong  lovers 
of  liberty  and  of  the  republic.  A  thin  line  of 
settlements  on  Long  Island  and  in  the  Hudson 
and  Mohawk  valleys  in  New  York,  and  a  few 
scattered  farms  in  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and 
Pennsylvania,  chiefly  along  the  Delaware  River, 
comprised  New  Nederland.  In  1664,  in  time  of 
profound  peace,  English  ships  treacherously  made 
a  descent  upon  Manhattan  Island,  and  the  country 
was  seized  and  brought  under  British  rule.  Then 
about  one  half  of  the  Dutch  people  left  America 
and  returned  to  the  Fatherland.  This  left  seven 
or  eight  thousand  Netherlanders  to  become  Amer¬ 
icans  and  fight  with  others,  for  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  years,  the  arbitrary  rule  of  British  kings 
and  their  favorites,  with  republican  ideas. 

Short  as  was  the  Dutch  occupation,  being  only 
fifty  years,  from  1614  to  1664,  the  foundations  of 
the  Empire  State  were  laid  by  them.  The  re¬ 
publican  Dutchmen  gave  New  York  its  tolerant 
and  cosmopolitan  character,  insured  its  commer- 


THE  DUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 


213 


sial  supremacy,  introduced  the  common  schools, 
founded  the  oldest  day  school  and  the  first  Pro¬ 
testant  church  in  the  United  States,  and  were 
pioneers  in  most  of  the  ideas  and  institutions  we 
boast  of  as  distinctly  American.  Almost  from 
the  very  first,  ministers  and  schoolmasters  were 
active  in  the  settlements,  and  morality  and  reli¬ 
gion  were  carefully  looked  after.  Every  acre  of 
land  occupied  was  bought  from  the  Indians,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Dutch  law  and  the  West  India  Com¬ 
pany’s  express  order.  The  Indians  were,  as  a 
rule,  kindly  treated,  and  before  John  Eliot  began 
his  preaching,  a  Dutch  domine,  Megapolensis,  had 
converted  Iroquois  Indians.  After  him,  Ereer- 
man  and  others  preached  the  gospel  to  them  and 
baptized  their  children.  The  records  of  the  Re¬ 
formed  churches  still  witness  to  this  good  work. 

As  between  the  sailors  and  rough  characters 
always  found  in  a  great  seaport,  like  New  Amster¬ 
dam,  and  the  Dutch  people  in  their  settled  homes, 
there  was  a  great  difference,  so  between  semi- 
feudal  manors  and  the  democratic  towns  and  vil¬ 
lages  of  New  Nederland  there  was  equal  unlike¬ 
ness.  In  order  to  encourage  settlement,  the  W est 
India  Company  gave  to  certain  rich  men  called 
Patroons  the  right  to  buy  and  occupy  large  tracts 
of  land,  and  over  their  estates  and  the  settlers  on 
them  to  exercise  a  sort  of  feudalism.  Several 
large  manors,  of  which  the  most  celebrated  was 
that  at  Rensselaerwyck,  thus  grew  up. 


214 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


All  this  was  opposed  to  Dutch  ideas  of  freedom, 
and  the  farmers  and  emigrants  from  Friesland, 
Brabant,  and  other  states  revolted  against  it. 
These  men  had  held  their  land  at  home  in  fee 
simple,  or  had  breathed  the  free  air  of  the  Father- 
land  too  long  to  stand  feudalism  in  America. 
Although  for  the  sake  of  the  tempting  advantages 
offered,  the  Patroons’  relations  and  many  poor 
men  settled  on  the  Patroons’  manors,  the  great 
majority  of  the  Dutch  immigrants  preferred  free 
soil  and  people’s  rights.  They  therefore  bought 
land  of  the  Indians  and  made  settlements  on 
Long  and  Staten  Islands,  in  New  Jersey,  Dela¬ 
ware,  and  at  Esopus. 

Arendt  van  Curler,  once  as  a  young  man  the 
Patroon’s  commissary,  who  had  outgrown  Patroon- 
ism,  bought  the  Great  Flat  in  the  Mohawk  Val¬ 
ley,  and  opened  the  superb  region  to  civilization 
by  founding  Schenectady  on  the  principles  of 
freedom.  Here  the  plucky  Dutchmen  kept  up  a 
constant  fight  against  Dutch  and  English  mo¬ 
nopolists.  So  justly  did  Van  Curler  treat  the 
Indians,  that  they  always  called  the  governors  of 
'  New  York,  even  as  those  in  Canada  still  call 
Queen  Victoria,  “  Corlear.” 

The  Dutch  people  kept  on  making  steady  ad¬ 
vances  in  the  assertion  of  their  political  rights  as 
against  the  Patroons  and  their  monopolies,  until 
the  British  conquest  of  1664.  Then  their  free 
schools  were  abolished,  many  of  the  free  customs 


THE  BUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 


215 


of  the  republic  were  done  away  with,  and  the 
vicious  fashions  of  monarchy  were  introduced. 
When  the  English  governors  attempted  forcibly 
to  establish  the  political  church  of  England,  they 
met  with  tough  and  continued  resistance.  For 
one  hundred  and  thirteen  years  the  Dutch,  Ger¬ 
man,  Huguenot,  Irish,  and  Scottish  people  in  the 
legislature  resisted  the  encroachments  of  the  Brit¬ 
ish  kings  and  their  agents,  and  maintained  their 
rights.  They  asserted  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  the  German  editor  Zenger  was  defended  and 
acquitted.  Having  no  royal  charter,  the  composite 
people  of  New  York,  gathered  from  many  nations, 
hut  instinct  with  the  principle  of  the  free  repub¬ 
lic,  studied  carefully  the  foundation  principles  of 
government,  until  in  the  Revolution  they  formed 
a  State  which  of  all  those  in  the  Union  is  the  most 
typically  American.  The  historical  precedents  of 
New  York  are  not  found  in  a  monarchy,  hut  in  a 
republic.  The  Empire  State  is  less  the  fruit  of 
English  than  of  Dutch  civilization, 

Pennsylvania  was  founded  by  William  Penn, 
the  son  of  a  Dutch  mother,  —  Margaret  J asper  of 
Rotterdam.  He  wrote  the  constitution  for  his 
people,  of  whom  Dutch  and  German  were  in  the 
majority,  while  in  Friesland.  This  constitution 
of  Pennsylvania  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  of 
any  in  the  thirteen  colonies.  Against  Penn’s  will, 
British  ideas  of  intolerance  against  Roman  Cath¬ 
olics,  introduced  in  1703,  were  kept  until  1776. 


216 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


Among  these  Nederlanders  who  came  over  with 
Penn  were  some  of  the  most  learned  men  in  Amer¬ 
ica.  From  the  composite  of  Nether  land  and  Ger¬ 
man  people  called  “  Pennsylvania  Dutch came 
forth  the  first  protest  against  American  slav¬ 
ery,  and  the  first  hook  in  the  colonies  written 
against  it,  the  first  volume  on  the  philosophy  of 
education,  the  first  Bible  in  America  printed  in 
any  European  language,  the  finest  piece  of  colo¬ 
nial  printing,  and  other  first  things  of  which 
Americans  are  proud.  In  many  of  the  churches 
reared  by  the  descendants  of  the  heroes  of  the 
eighty  years’  war,  the  memory  of  William  the 
Silent  is  still  cherished. 

“Father  William”  is  one  of  the  few  European 
characters  whom  Americans  like  to  compare  with 
Washington.  On  the  stained  glass  windows  of 
not  a  few  churches  in  the  United  States  his  “  coat 
of  arms  ”  is  emblazoned.  With  the  mottoes  added 
—  the  first  by  the  church  and  the  second  by  the 
republic  —  it  constitutes  the  accepted  emblem  of 
the  Reformed  Church  in  America.  This  we  shall 
now  explain  in  detail. 

The  princes  of  Orange  were  also  counts  and 
lords  of  other  principalities.  The  largest  and 
most  important  of  them  was  Nassau,  in  the  capi¬ 
tal  of  which  (Dillenburg)  William  was  born. 
The  first  quarter,  on  the  upper  left  hand  of  the 
largest  shield,  represents  Nassau.  A  lion  stands 
rampant,  uncrowned,  on  a  blue  field,  surrounded 


THE  DUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 


217 


with  dottings  seventeen  in  number.  Each  of 
these  dots  —  a  brick  turf,  or  part  of  the  soil  — 
stands  for  one  of  the  seventeen  provinces,  —  ten 
of  the  Netherlands  and  seven  of  Nederland,  all 
of  which  William  once  hoped  to  bind  into  one 
Union. 

In  the  second,  or  upper  right  quarter,  stands  a 
crowned  lion,  red  on  a  golden  field,  the  arms  of 
the  principality  of  Katzenellenbogen.  The  third, 
or  lower  right  hand  quarter,  contains  two  running 
lions,  gold  on  a  red  field.  The  fourth  quarter, 
a  shield  of  red  banded  with  silver,  is  that  of 
Dietz. 

The  smaller  shield,  laid  in  the  centre  of  the 
large  one,  is  also  quartered,  and  has  a  diagonal 
band  of  gold  across  it  and  through  the  first  and 
third  quarters,  which  are  those  of  Chalons.  The 
second  and  fourth  quarters  represent  the  princi¬ 
pality  of  Orange.  Their  color  is  golden,  and  on 
them  is  hung  a  war-horn,  symbolical  of  the  cour¬ 
age  of  William’s  ancestor,  William  the  Short- 
Nose,  vassal  of  Louis  the  Debonair,  son  of  Charle¬ 
magne,  against  the  Spanish  Moors.  This  hero  is 
the  subject  of  a  Dutch  mediaeval  poem. 

In  the  centre,  overlying  all,  is  the  Greek  cross, 
shield  of  the  city  of  Geneva,  in  token  of  W illiam’s 
adoption  of  the  Calvinistic  form  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

Church  and  state  being  one  in  defense  of  the 
Union,  against  secession  and  in  mutual  trust  in 


218 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


God,  the  Reformed  Church  in  Nederland,  in 
honoring  this  symbol,  added  the  opening  words 
in  Latin  of  Psalm  cxxvii.,  Nisi  Dominus  Frus - 
tra.  Beneath  is  the  motto,  in  Dutch,  of  the 
States-General,  Eendracht  maaJct  macJit  (In  Union 
there  is  Strength).  Planking  the  main  shield 
are  star-crowned  pillars,  symbols  of  solidity  of 
character  and  of  aspiration.  On  the  top  of  the 
shield  is  a  helmet  on  which  rests  the  imperial 
crown,  significant  of  the  loyalty  of  the  princes  of 
Orange  to  the  emperor. 

The  principalities  represented  on  the  large 
shield  are  in  Germany.  Those  on  the  smaller  are 
in  Prance.  The  title  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
came  into  the  Nassau  family  in  1530  by  the  mar¬ 
riage  of  Claude  de  Chalons  with  the  Count  of 
Nassau. 

Centring  all,  the  empire,  and  the  principalities 
in  two  kingdoms  of  France  and  Germany,  is  the 
shield  of  the  republic  presided  over  by  Calvin,  the 
great  nursing  father  of  democratic  liberty  and 
promoter  of  free  education.  No  wonder  the  Amer¬ 
icans  love  the  name  and  the  arms  of  William. 

To  the  Dutchman,  orange  is  a  symbolical  as 
well  as  historical  color.  Compounded  of  red  and 
yellow,  it  tells  of  blood  and  gold,  life  and  prop¬ 
erty,  —  all  that  is  dear  to  man  on  earth.  When, 
on  the  thirty-first  day  of  August,  the  birthday  of 
Queen  Wilhelmina  is  celebrated,  the  cities  of  Ne¬ 
derland  are  brilliant  with  orange  bunting,  as  in 


THE  DUTCH  IN  AMERICA. 


219 


church  and  in  festal  array  the  people  meet  to  ex¬ 
press  their  love  and  joy. 

The  descendants  of  the  Dutch  immigrants  who 
settled  in  the  Middle  States,  the  western  part  of 
Massachusetts,  and  in  Kentucky  during  our  colo¬ 
nial  period  are  now  scattered  in  many  States  and 
are  allied  to  many  churches.  Those  who  main¬ 
tained  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America 
organized  the  first  Protestant  church  in  America 
in  1628,  founded  Rutgers  College  at  New  Bruns¬ 
wick,  N.  J.,  in  1766,  and  Union  College  in  Sche¬ 
nectady  in  1784.  Rutgers  shortened  the  motto  of 
Utrecht  University,  /Sol  justifies,  illustra  nos 
(Sun  of  justice,  shine  on  us),  while  adding  et 
occidentem  (Sun  of  justice,  illumine  also  the 
West).  Union’s  motto  is  the  ancient  formula  of 
concord,  “  In  things  necessary,  unity ;  in  things 
doubtful,  liberty ;  in  all  things,  charity.”  The 
western  Neder landers,  who  have  become  American 
since  1847,  have  founded  Hope  College  in  Michi¬ 
gan. 

Our  country  is  not  a  new  England,  but  a  new 
Europe.  In  its  making,  the  steady,  patient,  in¬ 
telligent,  and  conservative  Dutchmen  have  been  a 
powerful  force  too  often  ignored  by  those  who 
write  our  national  history. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY. 

The  truce  of  twelve  years  peased  in  1621,  and 
the  war  with  Spain  was  promptly  renewed.  Mau¬ 
rice  conducted  the  operations  at  Bergen-op-Zoom 
and  Breda,  and  was  head  of  the  army  until  his 
death  in  1625.  Frederick  Henry,  Prince  of  Or¬ 
ange,  a  wise  and  liberal-minded  prince,  succeeded 
as  stadtholder,  proving  himself  also  an  able  gen¬ 
eral. 

The  war  continued  until  1648,  when  at  last 
Spain  was  exhausted.  On  the  5th  cf  June,  exactly 
eighty  years  to  the  day  after  the  execution  of 
Egmont  and  Hoorn,  peace  was  solemnly  con¬ 
cluded.  Spain  had  buried  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  of  her  sons  and  allies  in  the  oozy 
Netherlands,  and  had  spent  untold  millions  of 
money.  She  had  nearly  ruined  herself  financially 
in  trying  to  uproot  liberty.  In  seeking  to  wring 
the  neck  of  heresy,  she  had  broken  her  own  back. 
Henceforth,  from  the  rank  of  the  first  power  in 
Europe,  she  sank  to  the  level  of  a  fourth-rate 
country,  stagnant  in  ideas,  and  “the  China  of 
Christendom.” 

Two  years  after  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  na« 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY.  221 

tional  flag  of  the  United  States  of  Nederland 
was  changed  from  orange,  white,  and  blue  to  the 
red,  white,  and  blue,  as  still  seen  in  our  time. 

Henceforth  the  political  factors  in  the  history 
of  the  republic  are  two.  The  tendency  to  make 
the  central  government  strong,  to  lay  the  empha¬ 
sis  on  the  nation,  to  err  in  the  direction  of  mon¬ 
archy,  is  represented  by  the  stadtholder,  or  presi¬ 
dent,  usually  one  of  the  princes  of  the  House  of 
Orange.  The  tendency  to  assert  the  rights  of  the 
separate  states,  to  strengthen  the  local  freedom  and 
interest,  to  err  in  the  direction  of  obstruction  or 
secession,  is  represented  by  the  anti-Orange  party. 
The  House  of  Orange  produced  ten  able  princes, 
a  record  not  easily  paralleled  in  Europe.  The  Or¬ 
ange  party  was  usually  composed  of  the  popular 
and  Calvinistic  elements.  The  anti-Orangeists 
were  mostly  commercial  and  aristocratic.  The 
one  was  democratic,  the  other  republican ;  but,  as 
in  our  own  republic,  there  were  many  fluctuations, 
and  even  paradoxes.  In  Nederland,  as  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  “  Politics  makes  strange  bedfellows.”  Often 
the  struggle,  strain,  or  “  deadlock  ”  was  between 
one  state,  the  rich  and  powerful  Holland,  and  the 
others  in  the  union. 

England  and  Nederland  kept  their  ancient 
friendship  until  Great  Britain  grew  jealous  of 
the  power  of  the  Dutch  on  the  ocean  and  in 
the  East.  The  British  coveted  the  wealth  and 
influence  of  the  republic  and  hungered  to  share 


222 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


it.  Between  the  bull-dog  courage  of  the  British 
and  the  dogged  tenacity  of  the  Dutch,  heavy 
fighting  was  sure  to  be  the  rule.  In  the  naval 
battles  which  ensued,  Blake,  Ascough,  Dean, 
Monk,  and  Penn  are  famous  English  names. 
Tromp,  de  Ruyter,  de  With,  Evertsen,  Elorisz, 
and  other  names  adorn  the  annals  of  Dutch  valor 
and  naval  science.  Although  Great  Britain 
finally  won  the  day,  and  became,  until  1812, 
mistress  of  the  seas,  English  sneers  at  “  Dutch 
courage  ”  are  not  creditable  to  those  who  utter 
them.  Both  contestants  were  equally  courageous. 

During  most  of  the  time  of  the  English  Com¬ 
monwealth,  the  Dutch  United  States  had  no 
stadtholders.  The  able  statesman,  John  de  Witt, 
as  Grand  Pensionary,  directed  the  affairs  of  state. 
He  represented  the  powerful  burghers  and  the 
aristocracy.  He  carried  to  the  extreme  not  only 
the  idea  of  state  rights,  but  the  formula  that 
each  town  was  sovereign.  As  pure  in  his  own 
life  and  motive  as  Barneveldt  or  Calhoun,  he  was 
fettered  in  action  by  the  very  party  and  princi¬ 
ples  that  had  raised  him  to  power.  The  people 
felt  outraged  by  his  policy,  and,  led  on  by  their 
clergy,  charged  him  with  selling  his  country  to 
the  British.  In  a  wild  outburst  of  fury,  at  the 
Hague,  August  20,  1672,  he  and  his  brother  Cor¬ 
nelius,  deputy  of  the  States-General,  were  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  mob. 

In  England,  the  principles  of  the  English  Com- 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY.  223 

monwealth  seemed  lost  in  the  death  of  Cromwell, 
and  the  accession  to  the  throne  of  Charles  II. 
They  were  reasserted  and  widened  when  the  Brit¬ 
ish  people,  in  1688,  following  the  example  of  the 
Dutch  in  1581,  in  deposing  Philip,  put  out  their 
king,  James  II.,  and  invited  William  III.  of 
Nederland  to  he  their  sovereign.  This  stadt- 
holder,  who  was  at  once  President  of  the  Dutch 
Republic  and  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
was,  like  his  ancestor  the  Silent,  a  lover  of  char¬ 
ity  in  religion,  and  toleration  in  the  state.  Like 
his  father,  William  II.,  whose  wife  was  daughter 
of  Charles  I.,  he  had  married  into  the  Stuart 
family  of  England,  his  wife  being  his  own  cousin 
and  the  daughter  of  James  II.  Under  his  reign, 
from  1688  to  1702,  the  principles  for  which  the 
people  of  England  contended  in  their  Common¬ 
wealth,  under  Fairfax  and  Cromwell,  became 
part  of  the  British  Constitution.  In  both  states¬ 
manship  and  war,  William  III.  was  a  practical 
genius  of  the  highest  order.  He  was  all  his  life 
a  determined  opponent  of  Louis  XI Y.  of  France. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  the  Dutch  people 
and  their  government  deteriorated.  Their  his¬ 
tory  during  this  period  is  a  chapter  of  decay. 
The  political  machinery  became  clogged,  and  at 
times  almost  suffered  paralysis.  The  office  of 
stadtholder,  which  had  been  abolished,  was  re¬ 
stored,  and  made  hereditary  in  the  House  of  Or¬ 
ange.  It  thus  became  more  and  more  like  that 


224  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 

of  a  king.  The  stadtholders  or  princes  of  Orange 
lived  like  kings,  and  aped  the  vices  of  the  sover¬ 
eigns  around  them. 

The  people  followed  the  example  set  them. 
Luxury,  extravagance,  and  manners  prevalent  in 
monarchies  were  imitated  by  the  Dutch  nobles 
and  burghers.  They  weakened  in  the  old  ear¬ 
nestness,  integrity,  devotion  to  high  principles, 
sound  ideas  of  honor,  reverence  for  women,  fru¬ 
gality  and  temperance,  for  which  their  fathers 
had  been  noted.  The  money-loving  spirit  in¬ 
creased.  Religion  became  more  formal.  Manners 
declined.  The  love  of  strong  liquors  increased. 
Commerce,  credit,  the  navy,  army,  and  the  col¬ 
onies  declined.  One  who  studies  the  strong,  seri¬ 
ous  faces  on  the  canvases  of  Frans  Hals  and 
Rembrandt,  and  then  compares  with  them  the 
portraits  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is  painfully 
impressed  with  the  fact  of  a  change  not  for  the 
better. 

In  a  word,  the  reaction  after  a  century  of  lof¬ 
tiest  heroism  had  come.  The  virtues  of  repub¬ 
lican  faith  in  God,  high  motives,  grand  actions, 
and  simplicity  in  dress,  food,  and  life,  had  fallen 
to  the  common  level  of  Europe  in  the  unheroic 
and  prosaic  eighteenth  century. 

Nevertheless,  after  exposing  fully  the  faults  of 
the  people  of  Nederland,  the  simple  facts  show 
that  in  love  of  learning  and  of  liberty,  in  works 
of  benevolence  and  public  charity,  in  freedom  of 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY.  225 

the  press,  in  tolerance  of  religion,  the  little  repub¬ 
lic  was  far  ahead  of  any  nation  in  Europe.  Hav¬ 
ing  no  coal  or  iron  in  their  alluvial  country,  the 
Dutch,  who,  with  the  Huguenots,  had  furnished 
Great  Britain  with  so  much  skill  and  industry, 
were  unable  to  compete  in  manufactures  or  ship¬ 
ping  with  their  English  rivals.  Nevertheless,  and 
as  if  to  make  amends  for  their  ill-fortune  in  ma¬ 
terial  things,  the  Dutchmen  gave  themselves  with 
renewed  vigor  to  things  intellectual. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  were  founded  most 
of  those  societies  for  the  cultivation  of  the  arts, 
science,  and  literature  which  are  to-day  the  glory 
of  Nederland.  The  Asian  and  other  Oriental 
languages  were  first  studied  and  made  the  heri¬ 
tage  of  Europe  by  the  Dutch  scholars,  and  the 
first  Oriental  society  was  founded  in  Java  by 
them.  The  light  of  Leyden’s  learning  shone 
brightly  all  over  Europe  in  the  eighteenth  cen<= 
tury. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


NEDERLAND  AND  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

From  the  first  beginning  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  sympathies  of  the  Dutch  were 
with  the  colonies  and  their  republic,  and  against 
the  monarchy  of  Great  Britain.  They  saw  that 
just  as  the  Spanish  king  had  tried  to  fill  his 
empty  treasury  by  extra  taxes  on  the  Nether¬ 
lands,  so  the  British  attempted  to  repair  their 
dilapidated  finances  by  a  direct  attack  on  the 
liberties  of  the  colonies.  The  Dutch  knew,  also, 
that  the  founders  of  New  England  had  been  edu¬ 
cated  in  Leyden,  and  that  four  States  out  of  the 
thirteen  had  been  first  settled  by  Dutchmen; 
they  knew,  also,  that  the  American  revolt  followed, 
in  a  hundred  interesting  details,  that  of  their 
fathers  in  1579  and  1581.  On  the  American 
ships  they  saw  the  same  red,  white,  and  blue 
colors,  and  the  same  red  and  white  stripes  that 
floated  from  the  mastheads  of  Tromp  and  de 
Ruyter. 

When,  therefore,  the  Declaration  of  Independ¬ 
ence  was  signed  in  1776,  there  was  great  joy 
in  Nederland.  Dutch  officers  crossed  the  ocean 
and  enlisted  in  the  Continental  army.  The 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  227 

“Pennsylvania  Dutchmen”  first  named  Wash¬ 
ington,  as  their  fathers  had  named  William, 
“the  Father  of  his  Country.”  In  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  they  were,  in  overwhelming  ma¬ 
jority,  loyal  to  the  American  cause.  New  York, 
largely  Dutch  in  population,  was  the  one  State  of 
the  thirteen  which  paid  up,  fully  and  promptly, 
her  quotas  of  men,  of  money,  and  of  supplies. 
A  native  Dutch  engineer  in  the  United  States 
army  named  Romayne,  whom  W ashington  greatly 
appreciated  and  honored,  built  the  forts  on  the 
Hudson  River.  He  also  wrote  a  book  in  which 
he  drew  out  in  detail  the  parallel  between  the 
Dutch  and  the  American  union,  declaration  and 
war  of  independence,  difficulties,  and  prospects. 
He  prophesied  the  success  of  the  side  for  which 
he  fought  and  for  which  he  died. 

The  Dutch  acted  from  principle  as  well  as  sen¬ 
timent.  Their  acts  showed  more  than  a  love  of 
trade  and  enterprise,  in  the  business  of  supplying 
American  privateers,  and  breaking  the  British 
blockade  of  American  ports.  They  were  the 
first  foreigners  to  salute  the  American  flag. 

One  of  the  first  ships  of  the  United  States 
navy  was  the  Andrea  Doria.  She  was  named 
after  the  celebrated  Genoese  who  in  1528  drove 
the  French  out  of  his  native  city,  but  instead  of 
becoming  dictator,  he  left  the  form  of  govern¬ 
ment  to  the  citizens  and  supported  the  republic 
which  they  voted  to  have.  The  people  named 


228  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 

him  “  Father  of  his  Country  and  Restorer  of  its 
Liberties.”  The  ship  thus  happily  named  sailed 
from  Philadelphia  into  the  harbor  of  St.  Eusta- 
chius  in  the  West  Indies.  She  had  a  copy  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  board.  The 
governor  of  the  Dutch  port  was  Johannes  de 
Graeff.  He  was  delighted  to  see  that  the  old 
striped  colors  of  the  Fatherland  had  been 
adopted  by  the  American  States  -  General  or 
Congress.  He  at  once  ordered  the  artillery  of 
the  fort  to  boom  out  a  salute.  Eleven  “  honor 
shots  ”  were  fired.  There  ought  to  have  been 
thirteen,  but  de  Graeff  was  a  lawyer,  and  knew 
the  value  of  fictions  of  law  which  were  still  in 
fashion.  Though  boasting  of  his  deed,  what  he 
wanted  to  do,  what  he  succeeded  in  doing,  was 
to  postpone  responsibility  until  Nederland  had 
espoused  the  cause  and  made  public  and  official 
recognition  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
This  was  the  first  foreign  salute  to  our  flag.  His 
portrait,  hanging  in  the  state  house  at  Concord, 
N.  H.,  represents  him  reading  the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

At  home  the  stadtholder  and  Prince  of  Orange, 
allied  in  marriage 'with  the  royal  family  of  Eng¬ 
land,  sided  with  the  British  against  the  Ameri¬ 
cans.  On  the  contrary,  the  Dutch  people,  well 
instructed  in  their  own  ancestral  history  and 
kept  well  informed  of  American  politics,  were 
hearty  and  open  in  their  sympathy  with  the 


THE  AMEBIC  AN  B  EVOLUTION.  229 

cause  of  freedom.  They  showed  their  feelings 
of  friendship  to  the  Americans  on  every  occasion, 
as  we  shall  see. 

One  remnant  of  the  British  forces  which  had 
fought  in  Dutch  pay  in  the  war  for  independence 
from  1584  to  1648  still  remained  in  Nederland. 
This  was  the  Scotch  Brigade.  A  treaty  had 
been  made  in  1716—17,  with  a  view  to  maintain¬ 
ing  the  Protestant  succession  on  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain.  It  stipulated  that,  as  allies,  the 
Dutch  should  furnish  soldiers  and  money  when 
called  on.  This,  in  several  European  wars,  they 
had  already  done.  In  answer  to  the  demand  of 
George  III.  for  immediate  compliance,  the  Dutch 
refused  to  allow  one  man  or  a  single  guilder  to 
be  used  against  the  Americans.  They  argued 
that  this  war  was  waged  by  the  king  against  his 
own  subjects,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question  of  the  Protestant  succession. 

The  foolish  king  and  his  corrupt  Parliament 
had  therefore  to  seek  for  mercenaries  elsewhere. 
Russia  refused,  but  some  petty  German  princes 
sent  over  that  miscellaneous  body  of  worthy  but 
unfortunate  men  called  “  the  Hessians.”  The 
two  parties,  for  and  against  the  stadtholder  in 
Nederland,  became  for  years  “  pro-British  ”  and 
“  anti-British,”  and  were  very  bitter  against  each 
other. 

The  man  who  from  the  first  championed  the 
American  cause  in  Nederland  was  Baron  Joan 


280 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


Derek  van  der  Capellen.  He  was  a  nobleman 
with  estates  in  Overyssel,  and  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature,  but  thoroughly  democratic  in 
his  sentiments.  He  had  relieved  the  farmers  in 
his  native  state  from  certain  oppressive  burdens, 
the  relics  of  feudalism.  He  believed  that  the 
Germanic  race  by  crossing  the  Atlantic  were  tc 
make  vast  progress,  and  the  New  World  instruct 
the  Old  in  many  things.  His  affection  for  Amer¬ 
ica  was  warm  and  unselfish.  He  translated  pam¬ 
phlets  giving  information  about  the  United  States 
and  kept  the  Dutch  people  informed  of  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  the  war.  He  corresponded  with  Dr. 
Franklin,  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull,  John 
Adams,  and  other  eminent  Americans.  He  was 
joined  in  his  good  work  by  other  Dutch  writers 
like  Dr.  Calkoens,  who  soon  filled  Nederland 
with  their  books,  pamphlets,  satires,  poems,  show¬ 
ing  the  injustice  of  the  British  and  the  justness 
of  the  American  cause. 

To  encourage  our  fathers,  Yan  der  Capellen 
wanted  short  sketches  of  the  Dutch  war  of  in¬ 
dependence,  and  accounts  of  the  siege  of  Haar¬ 
lem  and  Leyden  scattered  throughout  the  thir¬ 
teen  States.  Professor  Jean  Luzac,  editor  of  a 
very  influential  newspaper  published  in  Leyden, 
and  which  circulated  all  over  Europe,  was  also 
notably  helpful  in  the  American  cause.  Being 
issued  in  a  republic  where  the  press  was  free,  it 
was  printed  and  accepted  in  countries  where  the 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  231 

freedom  of  the  press  was  unknown.  It  soon 
became  an  authority,  and  powerfully  influenced 
public  opinion  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 
Washington  sent  Luzac  a  letter  of  thanks,  and 
made  him  a  present  of  the  camp  stool  on  which 
he  sat  during  his  campaigns  of  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

There  was  no  mistake  about  the  warmth  of  the 
Dutch  heart  towards  the  Americans.  Popular 
feeling  showed  itself  quickly.  When  Jones  cap¬ 
tured  the  Serapis,  he  brought  his  prizes  to  the 
Texel.  The  streets  of  the  Dutch  cities  at  once 
resounded  with  popular  songs  in  which  the  valor 
of  the  Yankee  man-of-war  was  celebrated.  Claas 
Taan,  a  Dutchman  with  a  fleet  of  grain  ships, 
broke  the  British  blockade  and  relieved  Balti¬ 
more  of  pressing  need.  For  this  act  Mr.  Taan 
was  afterwards  presented  with  an  oil  portrait  of 
Washington  and  a  letter  of  thanks  from  the 
Father  of  his  Country.  The  students  of  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Franeker  held  a  grand  festival  with 
torchlight  processions,  bonfires,  Latin  poems,  and 
orations,  in  which  they  celebrated  the  auspi¬ 
cious  future  of  the  young  American  republic. 
It  was  these  “  free  Frisians,”  always  lovers  of 
liberty,  who  led  the  way  in  recognizing  the 
United  States  of  America.  Medals  were  struck 
to  celebrate  the  event  when  Friesland  first,  and 
the  other  states  of  the  Dutch  republic,  and 
finally,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1782,  the  States- 


232 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


General,  passed  the  formal  act  of  recognition. 
Three  days  later,  Mr.  John  Adams  had  audience 
of  the  stadtholder  and  Prince  of  Orange. 

By  this  time  the  British  had  already  declared 
war  against  Nederland  for  several  reasons.  The 
first  was  for  saluting  the  American  flag,  and  for 
furnishing  and  equipping  the  American  priva¬ 
teers.  These  vessels,  loaded  at  St.  Eustachius, 
supplied  probably  one  half  of  the  munitions  of 
war  to  the  Continental  army.  The  second  reason 
was  that  van  Berckel,  pensionary  of  Amsterdam, 
had  purposed  to  make  a  treaty  and  open  trade 
with  the  Americans.  The  papers  of  van  der 
Capellen,  van  Berckel,  Governor  Trumbull  of 
Connecticut,  and  Erkelens,  a  Dutchman  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  had  been  found  when  Henry  Laurens, 
ex-president  of  the  Continental  Congress,  was 
captured  on  the  ocean  by  the  British  frigate 
Vestal.  When  the  States  -  General  refused  to 
punish  either  de  Graeff  or  van  Berckel,  the  Brit¬ 
ish  government  instantly  declared  war. 

Since  the  British  insisted  on  stopping  Dutch 
trade  with  France  and  Spain,  and  violated  treaties 
by  searching  and  capturing  Dutch  ships  and  im¬ 
pressing  Dutch  sailors,  the  Nederlanders,  poor  as 
they  were  at  this  time,  determined  to  assert  their 
rights.  They  built  a  fleet  of  ships  to  convoy 
their  trading  vessels  and  defend  them  against 
British  aggression.  To  enter  the  battle  against 
Great  Britain  at  this  time  was  at  fearful  odds. 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  233 

The  disparity  in  forces  was  not  unlike  that  of  the 
conflict  of  two  centuries  before  with  Spain. 

No  sooner  was  war  declared  against  Nederland 
than  the  British  admiral  Rodney  started  for  St. 
Eustachius.  He  left  Cornwallis  in  Virginia  to 
care  for  himself  as  best  he  could  against  the  com¬ 
bined  American  and  French  armies.  With  a 
great  fleet  he  captured  the  place.  He  seized  the 
fifty  American  merchant  vessels  in  port,  whether 
privateers  or  merchant  ships  loaded  with  cotton 
and  tobacco.  His  spoils  were  worth  in  all  about 
two  millions  of  dollars.  Two  thousand  American 
prisoners  were  also  taken. 

Rodney  imagined  he  had  put  down  the  rebel¬ 
lion  of  the  colonies.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Corn¬ 
wallis  had  surrendered,  and  the  Dutch  bankers 
of  Amsterdam,  by  lending  us  fourteen  millions 
of  dollars  when  most  wanted,  prepared  our 
fathers  to  renew  the  struggle.  Proposals  for 
peace  were  soon  after  made,  and  the  United 
States  of  America  were  recognized  as  a  sovereign 
power,  free  and  independent  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  The  flag  first  saluted  by  the  Dutch 
now  floated  to  the  breezes  of  every  clime. 

In  helping  the  Americans  in  their  struggle 
against  Great  Britain,  the  French  acted  selfishly 
and  in  accordance  with  the  programme  of  Euro¬ 
pean  politics.  The  Dutch  acted  out  of  their  sym¬ 
pathy  with  a  republic  and  a  people  who  were 
following  their  own  example.  With  little  or  no 


234 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


desire  to  take  part  in  European  machinations, 
they  lent  us  money  and  helped  us  with  powder, 
cannon,  and  clothing.  The  policy  of  the  French 
was  to  weaken  their  ancient  foe,  and  to  recover 
Canada  and  their  North  American  possessions. 
They  wanted  to  begin  operations  along  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Washington,  Franklin,  and  Adams 
saw  through  their  designs  and  insisted  on  a  com¬ 
bined  attack  upon  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  Our 
fathers  preferred  the  English  to  the  French  as 
neighbors  on  this  continent. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


THE  DUTCH  AND  AMERICAN  CONSTITUTIONS. 

In  Nederland,  the  movement  of  the  people  in 
favor  of  America  was  against  the  Orange  party 
and  the  stadtholders,  who  favored  England.  Since 
1747  the  office  of  stadtholder  had  been  made 
hereditary,  and  more  and  more  had  the  head  of 
the  republic  assumed  the  airs  of  a  king. 

The  strain  was  now  fearful,  and  fears  for  the 
safety  of  the  union  and  of  republican  government 
were  anxiously  felt  all  over  Nederland.  The 
States-General  deprived  the  stadtholder  of  his 
command  of  the  army,  but  refused  to  the  people 
that  share  in  the  public  affairs  which  van  der 
Capellen  and  others  demanded.  By  the  year 
1787,  so  many  Dutch  patriots  had  found  life  in¬ 
tolerable  under  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  that  they  fled  in  large  numbers  to 
France.  There  they  aroused  the  French  senti¬ 
ment  in  favor  of  the  anti-Orangeists.  Many  others 
came  to  the  United  States.  Bands  of  citizens  be¬ 
gan  to  drill,  with  the  idea  of  resisting  the  appar¬ 
ent  attempt  of  the  stadtholder  to  make  himself 
kmg- 

In  this  condition  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had 


236 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


married  the  sister  of  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia,  fled 
to  Germany  and  stirred  up  his  brother-in-law  to 
support  him  and  invade  Nederland.  The  cry  of 
“  Oranje  boven  !  ”  and  the  wearing  of  the  orange 
colors  by  excited  people  showed  that  the  country 
was  on  the  brink  of  civil  war.  In  this  crisis 
England  prepared  to  assist  the  stadtholder,  prom¬ 
ising  to  let  loose  the  Hessians  in  Nederland  as 
she  had  done  in  America,  should  the  French  aid 
the  anti-Orange  party  with  an  army  and  a  navy. 
The  monarchies  of  Europe  were  only  too  glad  of 
an  opportunity  to  crush  the  republic.  The  ex¬ 
cuse  waited  for  was  found  when  the  Princess  of 
Orange  was  arrested  by  the  legislature  of  Holland 
while  on  her  way  to  Nymegen.  An  army  of 
twenty  thousand  Prussians  marched  into  Neder¬ 
land  and  occupied  several  cities.  Van  Berckel, 
van  der  Capellen,  and  other  popular  leaders  were 
made  prisoners.  Van  der  Kemp  came  to  America. 

In  fact,  the  United  States  of  Nederland  were 
suffering  from  the  defects  of  their  constitution, 
their  imperfect  federal  government,  and  the  de¬ 
cline  of  the  national  spirit.  It  so  happened  that 
at  the  same  time  the  United  States  of  America 
were  in  their  greatest  trouble  on  practically  the 
same  causes,  under  their  Articles  of  Confederation. 
In  the  year  1787,  when  our  fathers  met  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  they  had  before  their  eyes  the  living 
example  of  the  Dutch  republic,  with  its  two  hun¬ 
dred  years  of  experience,  and  the  excellences  and 


DUTCH  AND  AMERICAN  CONSTITUTIONS.  237 

the  defects  of  its  constitution.  The  framers  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  profited  by 
both.  They  looked  well  into  the  mirror  of  Dutch 
history.  Let  us  see  how  they  did  it. 

Originality  in  methods  of  government  is  hardly 
possible.  Searching  all  antiquity  and  looking  at 
modern  examples,  our  fathers  tried  to  copy  with 
improvements  the  good  and  avoid  the  evil.  From 
the  Dutch  system  they  borrowed  the  idea  of  a 
written  Constitution,  a  Senate  or  States-General, 
the  Hague  or  District  of  Columbia,  the  Supreme 
Court  (with  vast  improvements),  the  land  laws, 
registration  of  deeds  and  mortgages,  local  self- 
government  from  the  town  and  county  to  the 
government  of  governments  at  Washington,  the 
common  school  system,  freedom  of  religion  and  of 
the  press,  and  many  of  the  details  of  the  Dutch 
state  and  national  systems.  The  principle  for 
which  the  Anabaptists  contended,  and  for  which 
thousands  of  them  were  put  to  death,  separation 
of  the  church  and  state,  was  made  fundamental 
in  the  American  system.  James  Madison  in  1822 
wrote,  “  The  example  of  Holland  proved  that  a 
toleration  of  sects  dissenting  from  the  established 
sect  was  safe  and  even  useful.  We  are  teaching 
the  world  that  governments  do  better  without 
kings  and  nobles  than  with  them.  The  merit  will 
be  doubled  by  the  other  lesson :  that  religion 
flourishes  in  greater  purity  without  than  with  the 
aid  of  government.” 


238 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


The  mirror  of  Nederlandish  history  reflected  a 
powerful  light  upon  our  country’s  future,  and 
enabled  our  fathers  to  foresee  dangers  and  to 
make  provision  for  them.  Alexander  Hamilton, 
who  had  married  his  wife,  Miss  Schuyler,  from 
one  of  the  Dutch  families  in  New  York,  and  was 
the  best  read  man  in  Nederlandish  history,  points 
out  these  dangers  in  “  The  Federalist.” 

In  some  respects,  especially  in  the  department 
of  the  executive,  and  the  relations  of  great  and 
powerful  states  to  the  smaller  ones,  in  a  word,  in 
the  relations  of  centralization  and  state  rights, 
the  Dutch  republic  was  an  awful  example.  Mr. 
Pierce  Butler  of  South  Carolina,  John  Randolph, 
James  Madison,  and  Dr.  Franklin,  laid  emphasis 
on  the  patent  evils.  Mr.  Madison,  speaking  of 
the  lax  system  of  the  Dutch  confederacy,  said, 
“  Holland  contains  about  half  the  people,  sup¬ 
plies  about  half  the  money,  and  by  her  influence 
silently  and  indirectly  governs  the  whole  repub¬ 
lic.”  Gouverneur  Morris  said,  “  The  United  Ne- 
derlands  are  at  this  time  torn  in  factions.  With 
these  examples  before  our  eyes,  shall  we  form  an 
establishment  which  shall  necessarily  produce  the 
same  effects  ?  ’  ’  The  result,  in  our  system,  shows 
how  Nederland’s  old  danger  was  avoided. 

The  one  great  defect  in  the  Dutch  constitution 
was  in  allowing  the  stadtholder  too  much  unregu¬ 
lated  power,  and  thus  enabling  him  to  become 
almost  independent  of  the  people.  He  could  not 


DUTCH  AND  AMERICAN  CONSTITUTIONS.  239 

be  impeached.  Dr.  Franklin  showed  how,  in  the 
late  W ar  of  the  Revolution,  the  States-General  had 
ordered  the  Dutch  fleet  to  unite  with  the  French 
to  assist  the  Americans.  The  Dutch  ships  failed 
to  appear,  and  suspicion  arose  that  the  stadt- 
holder  was  at  the  bottom  of  it.  So  it  proved. 
Yet  the  stadtholder  continued  in  office,  strength¬ 
ening  his  power.  No  examination  was  made. 
Had  he  been  called  to  account  and  punished,  or 
if  unjustly  accused,  tried  and  restored  to  public 
confidence,  all  would  have  been  well,  and  the 
Dutch  republic  might  not  have  fallen.  Our  fa¬ 
thers  provided  for  the  impeachment  of  the  presi¬ 
dent,  who  is  the  stadtholder,  elective  and  impeach¬ 
able,  of  the  American  republic. 

During  the  troubles  between  Barneveldt  and 
Maurice,  as  well  as  in  1787,  as  Mr.  Pierce  Butler 
had  noticed,  Nederland  was  distracted  by  having 
more  than  one  military  head.  Our  fathers  deter¬ 
mined  to  have  one  only.  They  made  the  presi¬ 
dent  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  the 
navy  of  the  United  States. 

In  a  word,  the  American  Constitution  borrows 
more  points  from  that  of  the  Dutch  than  from 
any  other.  The  United  States  of  America  is  po¬ 
litically  more  like  the  United  States  of  Nederland 
than  like  any  other  country. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


“  THE  DUTCH  HAVE  TAKEN  HOLLAND.” 

Affairs  in  Nederland  went  on  from  bad  to 
worse,  and  a  flood  more  destructive  than  that  of 
the  stormy  ocean  engulfed  the  country.  The 
Trench  Revolution  broke  out  in  1792,  and  the 
passion  for  conquest  seizing  the  citizen  French¬ 
men,  they  overran  Belgium.  The  ice  being  frozen 
on  the  Scheldt,  Nederland  offered  tempting  prey. 
The  French  armies,  urged  on  by  Dutch  refugees 
in  France,  and  invited  by  revolutionary  or  anti- 
stadtholder  committees  at  the  Hague  and  Amster¬ 
dam,  moved  into  Nederland,  and  the  Dutch  lost 
Holland. 

The  French  protectorate  was  called  the  Bata¬ 
vian  Republic.  Under  Napoleon,  Louis  Bona¬ 
parte,  his  brother,  was  made  king  of  Holland. 
In  1810,  Nederland  was  incorporated  with  the 
French  empire.  The  old  landmarks  of  social 
order  were  swept  away.  New  systems  of  laws, 
courts,  and  taxes,  utterly  distasteful  to  the  people 
were  introduced.  Orators  in  French  and  Dutch 
raved  over  the  rights  of  man,  and  French  art, 
pictures,  statuary,  and  emblems  decorated  the  cib 
ies.  The  young  men,  as  conscripts  for  Napoleon, 


“ THE  BUTCH  HAVE  TAKEN  HOLLAND .”  241 


perished  by  the  tens  of  thousands  on  distant  bat¬ 
tle-fields,  the  victims  of  French  ambition.  Ground 
down  by  taxes  and  odious  laws,  the  Nederlanders, 
humiliated  and  captive,  eagerly  waited  for  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  regain  their  country.  French  officers 
in  Nederland  were  not  without  tokens  of  the  pop¬ 
ular  temper.  Sometimes  they  woke  up  in  the 
morning  to  find  their  eagles,  cockades,  and  monu¬ 
ments  painted  orange  color. 

The  expected  deliverance  soon  came.  At  the 
battle  of  W aterloo,  a  body  of  Dutch  troops  led 
by  the  Prince  of  Orange  fought  on  the  side  of 
the  allies,  with  valor  like  that  of  the  old  times. 
Napoleon  was  defeated.  At  once  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  William  II.,  backed  by  Russian  and 
Prussian  troops,  rode  into  the  Hague.  The  peo¬ 
ple  everywhere  welcomed  him.  On  the  1st  of 
December,  1815,  in  the  ancient  capital  of  Neder¬ 
land,  he  took  the  title  of  Sovereign  Prince.  All 
over  Europe  was  heard  the  news,  “  The  Dutch 
have  taken  Holland.” 

By  the  congress  and  treaty  of  the  victorious 
allies,  Belgium  and  Nederland  were  made  one 
country,  and  William  I.  was  crowned  king  cf  the 
Netherlands  September  27,  1815.  Thus  again, 
as  in  ancient  and  mediaeval  days,  two  peoples  dif¬ 
ferent  in  language,  interests,  religion,  and  char¬ 
acter,  were  joined  in  an  artificial  union,  which 
could  not  last. 

The  Dutch  found  out  once  more  the  difference 


242 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


between  a  republic  and  a  monarchy.  Except 
Louis  Bonaparte,  they  had  called  no  ruler  a  king. 
They  soon  learned  again  the  true  nature  of  such 
governors.  William  I.  was  a  bigoted  Protestant, 
and  began  to  interfere  outrageously  with  Roman 
Catholic  religion  and  education  in  Belgium.  In 
Nederland  the  Calvinists  had  always  been  demo¬ 
cratic  in  church  affairs.  William  remodeled 
both  church  and  state  on  the  principles  of  a  mon¬ 
archy  like  Prussia  or  England.  The  freedom  of 
the  press  was  restricted,  and  the  ancient  liberties 
of  the  people  in  the  congregations  and  in  the 
municipalities  curtailed  in  many  ways.  The  re¬ 
sults  were  the  revolt  and  secession  of  Belgium, 
and  a  great  schism  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
which  has  sent  a  hundred  thousand  Nederland- 
ers  to  America.  These  hardy  emigrants  helped 
largely  to  people  the  States  of  Michigan,  Wiscon¬ 
sin,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Dakota,  and  other  parts  of 
the  northwest. 

The  Belgium  insurrection  began  August  25, 
1830,  but  peace  did  not  end  all  strife  until  April 
19,  1839.  The  free  navigation  of  the  Scheldt 
River  was  secured  to  the  Belgians.  The  Dutch 
have  immortalized,  in  painting  and  sculpture, 
Lieutenant  Van  Speyk,  who  blew  up  himself  and 
his  ship  at  Antwerp,  to  prevent  its  capture  by  the 
Belgians.  The  ship  named  after  him  was  sent  by 
the  Dutch  government  to  take  part  in  the  Columu 
bian  naval  display  in  New  York  in  1893.  The 


“  THE  DUTCH  HAVE  TAKEN  HOLLAND.”  243 

marines,  neat,  clean-limbed,  active  Dutch  young 
men,  marched  down  Broadway.  They  gave  Amer¬ 
icans,  who  had  been  reared  on  the  stories  of 
Washington  Irving,  the  opportunity  to  compare 
fiction  with  fact,  and  fanciful  caricature  with  sim¬ 
ple  truth. 

William  I.,  of  the  kingdom  of  Nederland,  re¬ 
signed  the  crown  in  1840,  and  was  succeeded  by 
William  II.  William  III.,  lover  of  rich  dinners, 
music,  and  art,  reigned  from  1849  to  1890.  He 
profited  by  the  experiences  of  his  predecessors 
and  did  little  harm.  Our  Mr.  Motley  was  his 
personal  friend.  The  Dutch  people  have  ever 
been  grateful  to  the  House  of  Orange  for  their 
great  services  to  Nederland.  The  illustrious  line 
came  to  an  end,  on  the  male  side,  with  William 
III.  His  widow,  Emma,  became  queen  regent, 
and  his  daughter,  Wilhelmina,  born  August  31, 
1880,  the  nominal  ruler  and  queen. 

In  our  civil  war,  the  sympathies  of  the  Dutch 
were  wholly  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  Union.  The 
bonds  of  the  United  States  of  America  sold  in 
liberal  quantities  in  Nederland.  Thousands  of 
Dutchmen,  many  of  them  crossing  the  ocean  for 
the  purpose,  enlisted  under  the  red,  white,  and 
blue,  —  the  same  colors  under  which  their  ances¬ 
tors  fought  first  for  Independence  and  then  for 
Union. 

The  national  arms  of  Nederland  consist  of  a 
shield  on  which  is  a  crowned  lion  rampant.  He 


244 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


holds  a  naked  sword  in  the  right  paw  and  a  sheaf 
of  eleven  arrows,  symbolical  of  the  provinces  into 
which  the  kingdom  is  divided,  in  the  left.  Vari¬ 
ous  dottings  or  markings  of  oblong  shape  are 
meant  to  represent  either  drops  of  blood,  as  some 
say,  or  perhaps  more  exactly,  bricks  of  turf.  The 
national  motto  is  that  of  William  the  Silent,  Je 
maintiendrai  I  will  maintain 

The  Dutch  are  still  taking  Holland ;  they  are 
maintaining  their  old-time  principles,  their  love 
of  industry,  freedom,  art,  literature,  science,  and 
religion.  Without  the  coal  and  iron  of  England, 
the  military  strength  of  Germany,  the  fertile  soil 
and  resources  of  France,  the  little  country  holds, 
her  own  place  amid  her  powerful  neighbors. 

The  Dutch  are  not  like  the  Germans.  Thej 
are  not  fond  of  abstractions,  or  impracticable  so¬ 
cial  theories.  There  is  little  or  no  military  tone 
among  the  people.  They  have  a  high  sense  of 
independence.  They  are  averse  to  blind  obedi¬ 
ence.  A  Dutchman  does  not  willingly  give  up 
his  individual  opinion.  He  submits  to  the  ma¬ 
jority,  but  clings  to  his  own  notions.  You  can  win 
a  Dutchman’s  heart  and  lead  him,  but  he  cannot 
be  pushed.  It  may  be  that  some  strong  neighbor, 
perhaps  “  the  giant  under  the  spiked  helmet,” 
may  attempt  to  swallow  up  little  Nederland.  A 
few  years  ago  a  Berlin  newspaper  hinted  that  the 
great  empire  wanted  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine. 
In  its  pictorial  illustration,  a  company  of  Uhlans 


“  THE  DUTCH  HAVE  TAKEN  HOLLAND 245 


were  already  riding  into  the  Hague,  the  advance 
guard  of  the  host  with  the  spiked  helmets.  The 
next  week  a  Dutch  newspaper  made  answer  by  a 
picture  without  one  word  of  explanation  or  com¬ 
ment.  The  dykes  had  been  cut  and  the  water 
reached  four  inches  above  the  tip  of  the  tallest 
Uhlan’s  helmet  spike. 

In  the  art  of  the  republic,  the  Dutch,  realists 
in  everything,  first  glorified  the  home.  Instead 
of  painting  winged  angels,  mysteries,  dogmas, 
monks,  nuns,  popes,  they  transfigured  on  the  can¬ 
vas  the  joys  of  pure  wedded  life,  the  mother,  the 
baby  in  the  cradle,  the  merry-making  at  the  Ker¬ 
mis,  their  lovely  meadows,  their  glorious  sunsets, 
and  splendors  of  light  and  shade.  Rembrandt, 
Franz  Hals,  Gerard  Dow,  Jan  Steen,  Teniers, 
Ruisdael,  Hobbema,  Cuyp,  Potter,  are  among 
Dutch  artist  names  of  world  renown.  In  our 
century  Ary  Scheffer,  Israels,  Bosboom,  Alma 
Tadema,  Mesdag,  Blommers,  Artz,  Mauve,  and 
others  keep  alive  the  glorious  traditions  and  win 
world-wide  fame  for  the  Netherlands  school  of  art. 

In  science  and  engineering,  invention  and  the 
appliances  of  art  and  industry  to  human  life,  in 
learning  and  research,  we  could  not,  in  our  space, 
mention  the  long  list  of  names  which  show  that 
the  Dutch  intellect  is  even  yet  second  to  none  in 
Europe. 

In  literature  there  is  a  galaxy  of  stars.  While 
gome  of  the  Dutch  authors  write  in  German, 


246 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND. 


French,  or  English,  in  order  to  reach  quickly  the 
world  outside  and  the  learned  within  Nederland, 
most  of  them  employ  their  own  native  tongue.  In 
poetry,  Bilderdijk,  Tollens,  Ten  Kate  ;  in  fiction, 
van  Lennep,  Douwes  Dekker,  Bosboom  -  Tous- 
saint,  Melati  van  Java,  Vosmaer ;  in  belles-let¬ 
tres,  Busken  Huet ;  in  history,  van  Prinsterer, 
Fruin,  Jorissen,  Pierson,  and  Blok;  in  criticism 
and  oriental  scholarship,  Kuenen,  Tiele,  Kern, 
and  de  Goeje,  are  among  names  that  were  nof 
born  to  die. 

We  conclude  with  the  words  of  William  the 
Silent,  written  to  the  Dutch  magistrates  in  1577 ; 
and  made  the  corner-stone  first  of  the  Dutch  and 
then  of  the  American  Republic : — 

“We  declare  to  you  that  you  have  no  right 

TO  INTERFERE  WITH  THE  CONSCIENCE  OF  ANY 
one,  so  long  as  he  has  done  nothing  that  works 
injury  to  another  person,  or  a  public  scandal.” 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN  WILHELMINA. 

Wilhelmina  Helena  Pauline  Maria,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  King  William  III.  and  Emma,  his  second 
wife,  born  August  31, 1880,  was  inaugurated  Queen 
of  the  Netherlands  in  the  New  Church  in  Amster¬ 
dam,  September  6,  1898.  The  keynote  of  her  in¬ 
augural  address  still  makes  sweet  music  in  all  the 
hearts  of  her  subjects  —  “  The  House  of  Orange 
can  never,  no  never,  do  enough  for  the  Nether¬ 
lands.”  At  the  enthronement,  beside  the  elite 
of  the  kingdom,  two  rajahs  from  Java,  and  many 
other  vassals  from  Insulinde,  or  Island  India,  were 
present. 

On  the  16th  of  October,  1900,  in  a  touching  let¬ 
ter  to  her  people,  the  Queen  announced  her  engage¬ 
ment  to  Hendrik  Vladimir  Albrecht  Ernst,  born 
April  19,  1876,  Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 
son  of  the  Grand  Duke  Frederick  Francis  II., 
who  held  a  high  command  during  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian  War.  On  February  7, 1901,  at  the  Hague,  the 
bridal  couple  rode  to  the  church  in  a  golden  coach, 
the  gift  of  the  Queen’s  subjects,  drawn,  according 
to  immemorial  custom,  by  eight  black  horses  with 
snow-white  bridles.  The  marriage  was  according 


248  BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 

to  the  ritual  of  the  Reformed  Church,  the  words 
being  omitted  that  require  the  wife  to  live  where 
her  husband  does. 

Duke  Hendrik  received  the  title  of  Prince  of  the 
Netherlands,  rank  as  Admiral  in  the  navy,  and 
a  seat  in  the  Raad  van  State,  or  Council  of  State, 
of  fourteen  members,  over  which  the  sovereign 
presides.  This  council,  by  virtue  of  its  having 
direction  of  all  legislative  and  of  many  executive 
measures,  is  the  chief  regulative  feature  of  the 
Netherlands  government.  The  four  vital  subjects 
in  Dutch  politics  are  education,  the  colonies,  the 
army,  and  the  franchise.  The  Prince-Consort,  a 
man  of  fine  qualities,  besides  mastering  the  Dutch 
language,  showed  himself  a  hero.  By  his  heroic 
rescue  of  passengers  from  the  wreck  of  the  British 
steamer  Berlin,  at  the  Hook  of  Holland,  February, 
1907,  he  quickly  won  the  popular  heart. 

The  hopes  of  direct  succession  in  the  line  of  the 
House  of  Orange  came  to  fruition  in  the  birth,  on 
April  80, 1909,  of  a  princess,  Juliana  Louise  Emma 
Marie  Wilhelmina.  The  first  in  this  rosary  of  his¬ 
toric  names  recalls  Juliana  of  Stolberg,  mother  of 
William  the  Silent;  the  second,  Louise  de  Coligny, 
his  fourth  wife.  Emma  and  Marie  and  Wilhelmina 
are  the  names  of  both  the  grandmothers  and  of  the 
mother  of  the  new  Princess  of  Orange-Nassau  and 
Duchess  of  Mecklenburg.  A  salute  of  fifty-one 
guns  and  a  national  celebration  greeted  the  advent 
of  “  The  Princess  Juliana,”  christened  J une  5, 1909. 


THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN  WILHELMINA.  249 

In  the  foreign  relations  of  Holland,  the  chief 
events  in  QueenWilhelmina’s  reign  have  been  the 
Boer  War,  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the  Algeci- 
ras  Conference,  and  the  dispute  with  Venezuela, 
through  each  of  which  the  Netherlands  acted  inde¬ 
pendently  and  emerged  with  honor. 

At  home,  a  striking  increase  of  population,  with 
movement  toward  the  cities,  must  be  noted,  giving 
the  Netherlands  a  proportionately  larger  urban 
population  than  any  other  country  in  Europe,  the 
city  of  Rotterdam  having  since  1869  increased  four¬ 
fold.  Now,  with  nearly  half  a  million  people,  and 
a  vast  increase  of  docking  facilities,  the  city  on  the 
Maas  boasts  of  being  the  seventh  port  for  shipping 
in  the  world.  By  the  census  of  1905,  the  nation 
consists  of  5,591,701  souls,  of  whom  4,895,845  live 
in  the  provinces  in  which  they  were  born. 

In  the  revival  of  the  national  spirit,  largely 
through  re-study  of  their  own  history  (in  which  the 
Dutch  historians  were  led  by  Motley),  and  through 
wise  advantage  taken  of  economic  possibilities, 
several  anniversaries  of  the  birth  of  great  men,  such 
as  Rembrandt,  De  Ruyter,  and  Bilderdijk,  were 
held  on  a  national  scale.  On  J uly  16, 1906,  in  the 
Rijks  Museum  at  Amsterdam,  in  the  Golden  Hall 
dedicated  to  Rembrandt  and  Saskia,  the  leading 
people  of  the  kingdom  with  their  foreign  guests  as¬ 
sembled,  not  only  to  do  honor  by  words  of  praise 
to  the  greatest  of  the  northern  painters,  but  also 
to  enshrine  his  immortal  picture,  “  The  Night 


250 


BRAVE  LITTLE  HOLLAND . 


Watch,”  in  a  room  specially  built  in  seventeenth 
century  style  to  accommodate  the  canvas. 

In  laboring  for  the  coming  44  parliament  of 
man,  the  federation  of  the  world,”  the  Dutch  have 
been  ever  in  the  van.  Erasmus  condemned  war, 
Grotius  wrote  a  book  that  awakened  the  world’s 
conscience,  and  William  Penn  pointed  to  the  Dutch 
Republic,  or  League  of  Seven  States,  as  an  ex¬ 
ample  of  peaceful  federation,  whose  methods  of 
cooperation  and  arbitration  ought  to  become  inter¬ 
national.  The  chief  Powers  of  the  world  having 
sent  their  delegates  to  the  Hague  in  May,  1899, 
these  convened  in  the  House  in  the  W ood  built  by 
Amalia  van  Solms  in  memory  of  Prince  Frederick 
Henry.  The  sessions  were  rich  in  results,  visible 
especially  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 

The  second  International  Peace  Conference  met 
at  the  Hague  in  the  newly  renovated  Hall  of  the 
Knights,  or  old  castle  of  the  Counts  of  Holland, 
built  in  1248  and  enlarged  in  1285,  and  situated  at 
the  east  end  of  the  Binnenhof.  Here,  within,  had 
been  seen  not  a  few  of  the  most  brilliant  medieval 
pageants,  while  in  front  of  it  some  events  decisive 
for  the  world’s  weal  had  taken  place.  The  con¬ 
ference  was  opened  by  Queen  Wilhelmina  in  J une, 
1907,  and  sat  until  October  18,  having  settled 
some  vital  principles.  On  the  same  day  wireless 
messages  were  flashed  across  the  Atlantic. 


INDEX 


Adams,  John,  199,  230,  232,  236. 
Adolph  of  Nassau,  158,  159. 

Africa,  5,  111. 

Albany,  211. 

Albigenses,  91. 

Alden,  John,  207,  209. 

Alkmaar,  48,  81,  108,  166. 

Alva,  14,  23,  115, 126,  144,  153,  158, 

162,  164-167,  173. 

America,  47,  109. 

American  origins,  2-4,  17,  28,  40,  33, 
36,  65,  76,  77,  90,  91,  93,  96,  99, 
103,  105,  113,  115,  117,  125,  130, 
133,  134,  136,  138,  154,  158,  169, 
170,  177, 179-219,  226-239,  242. 
Amsterdam,  72,  107,  139,  145,  194, 
197,  232,  233,  249. 

Anabaptists,  136-138,  148,  161,  184, 
193,  196.  237. 

Andrea  Doria,  227,  228. 

Anglo-Saxon,  29,  42. 

Anti-Orange  party,  221, 235, 236,  240. 
Antwerp,  147,  62,  176. 

Arminians,  183,  186,  188,  190,  203. 
Arminius.  See  Hermann. 

Arms  of  cities,  15,  18,  85, 161,  217. 
Art,  205,  244,  245. 

Asega  book,  55. 

Aurania,  211. 

Austerfield,  56, 209. 

Bameveldt,  180-190,  200,  222. 
Batavians,  26,  30,  31,  42,  54,  159. 
Beemster,  178. 

Beggars,  15,  22,  146,  147,  157-159. 

163,  164,  168,  170. 

Belgium,  15,  43,  86,  240-242. 

Bells,  85,  93,  95. 

Bible,  106, 121, 125, 126, 134, 135, 139, 
145,  204,  210,  216. 

Bishops,  43,  44,  69,  70. 

Bleeching,  120,  121. 

Block  Island,  210. 

Blok,  P.  J.,  246. 

Boerhaave,  112,  113. 


Boers,  5,  20. 

Boniface,  44,  48. 

Bossu,  22,  166. 

Boston,  13,  103. 

Brabant,  57,  77. 

Bradford,  William,  56,  207,  208. 
Bread  and  Cheese  War,  108. 
Brederode,  81,  146,  152. 

Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  12? 
129. 

Brewster,  William,  195, 197,  204. 
Bricks,  94-96. 

Brill,  15,  22,159,  163,  170. 

Broad  Street,  21,  35. 

Brownists,  196,  197,  198. 

Brussels,  141,  146, 158,  167. 
Buckwheat,  116. 

Burg,  74,  202. 

Burgundy,  103,  105,  110. 

Burns,  Robert,  46. 

Butler,  Pierce,  238,  239. 

Caesars,  25,  26,  29-31,  43, 52. 

Caland,  P.,  13. 

California,  5. 

Calhoun,  181, 222. 

Calkoens,  Dr.,  230. 

Calvin,  132,  218. 

Calvinism,  185,  190. 

Calvinists,  148, 151, 161, 182-184,  20ty 
203,  205,  210,  212,  221. 
Carlovingian  dynasty,  52-56. 
Casembroot,  Admiral,  108. 

Catherine  van  Hasselar,  165. 

Celts,  27-30,  41. 

Charlemagne,  52-56,  126,  212. 
Charles  V.,  23, 109, 122, 134,  139-142. 
Charles  the  Bold,  104,  105. 

Charters,  24,  83,  84,  100,  104,  106, 
141,  215. 

Chicago,  17,  97,  194. 

China,  12,  66,  67,  220. 

Christianity,  42-44,  49,  50,  61,  62. 
Christmas,  50, 51,  53,  208. 

Civilis,  35. 


INDEX . 


252  I 


Cleanliness,  93,  98. 

Clocks,  17,  84,  198. 

Coccejus,  190,  191. 

Codfishes,  101,  99-108. 

Columbus,  109. 

Common,  46-48,  64. 

Congress,  105. 

Constantinople,  41,  52,  58,  80,  89. 
Constitutions,  4,  90,  215,  235-239. 
Cornwallis,  233,  234. 
Costume-festivals,  143,  144. 

Courage,  75,  76,  106. 

Crusaders,  79-88, 110,  112,  116,  122. 
Curfew,  54. 

Dakota,  242. 

Damietta,  83-85. 

Dams,  19. 

Danes,  39,  61,  62. 

Days  of  the  Week,  50. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  3,  106, 
226,  228. 

DeForest,  Jesse,  200. 

De  Graeff,  Gov.  J.,  4,  228,  232. 
Delaware,  2,  212. 

Delfshaven,  16-18,  168,  207. 

Delft,  34,  95,  126,  170  ,  207,  208. 
DeRuyter,  222,  226. 

Deventer,  57,  59,  116,  127,  129,  131. 
DeWitt,  John,  222. 

Dirck,  68,  81. 

District  of  Columbia,  3. 

Dogger  Bank,  107. 

Dokkum,  44. 

Dollart,  157. 

Domine,  77,  182, 191,  213. 

Dordrecht,  73,  75,  77-107,  126,  188, 
189. 

Drenthe,  68,  69. 

Dunes,  6. 

Dutch  faces,  23,  224. 

Dutch  language,  2,  45,  46,  84. 

Dykes,  20,  24,  34,  93, 157,  165, 177. 

Easter,  50,  111. 

East  Indies,  5,  205. 

Edam,  19. 

Egmont,  143,  144,  146,  154, 158,  163, 

220. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  104,  171,  172,  195. 
Emperor  of  Germany,  134. 

Empire  State,  36,  212,  215. 

England,  82, 109. 

English  origins,  2,  32,  33,  38-51,  76, 
96,  113,  114,  125, 129,  135, 142, 154, 
171-174, 221-225. 

Enkhuysen,  97. 

Erasmus,  22,  88, 127,  131-138,  250. 
Farragut,  59. 

Federalism,  169, 170,  238,  239. 


Feudal  system,  55,  64-71,  76,  77,  85, 

86,  99. 

Fictions  in  law,  155,  156,  228. 
Fisheries,  9,  109. 

Flag,  1,  2,  4,  86,  221,  226-228,  233. 
Flanders,  77, 80,  100. 

Flax,  117. 

Flemings,  96. 

Floris,  Count,  14,  81. 

Flowers,  110-112,  118. 

Flushing,  7,  85,  145,  171. 

Fort  Orange,  211. 

Franeker,  231. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  4,  230,  234, 239. 
French  Revolution,  240. 

Friesland,  3, 45, 49,  56,  61,  65,  69,  101, 
108,  214,  231. 

Frisians,  30,  34,  38, 40,  42,  45-51,  53, 
55,  61,  82,  231. 

Gardens,  110-114. 

Gerhard,  Groote,  127,  128. 

Germanic  Empire,  73,  109. 

Germanic  tribes,  27,  28,  32-34,  38, 
53,  64. 

Germanicus,  33,  34,  156. 

Germans,  10,  29,  108,  109,  123,  161, 
165,  215,  229,  244. 

Germany,  6,  10,  13,  24,  44,  56. 

Ghent,  105. 

Goes,  85,  102. 

Golden  fleece,  103. 

Gomarus,  Prof.,  186. 

Gouda,  14,  20,  95,  106. 

Great  Privilege,  105, 107,  140. 
Groningen,  112,  187. 

Grotius,  188,  189,  250. 

Haarlem,  74,  83-85,  107,  108,  110, 
111,  113,  121,  123,  126,  165,  230. 
Hague,  58,  78,  85,  104,  140,  145,  182, 
189,  207,  237,  241,  247,  250. 

Hals,  Franz,  224,  226. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  238. 

Heiliger  Lee,  156-159. 

Hendrik,  Prince  Consort,  247,  248. 
Heretics,  90,  91. 

Hermann,  32,  33. 

Herring,  14,  18. 

Hessians,  229,  236. 

Holland,  72,  73. 

Holmes,  Dr.  O.  W.,  30. 

Homes,  46. 

Hooks,  99-108. 

Hoorn,  85,  108. 

Hoorn,  Count,  143, 146, 148, 154, 158, 

220. 

Hope  College,  219. 

House  of  a  Thousand  Fears,  22,  23. 
Hudson  River,  48,  111,  205,  206,  227. 
Huguenots,  104,  200,  215,  225. 


INDEX 


253 


Iconoclasts,  149,  151. 

Impeachment,  239. 

Independents,  19G. 

Inquisition,  145,  149. 

International  Peace  Conferences,  250. 
Ireland,  41,  42,  104,  200. 

Irish,  41,  208,  209,  215. 

Iroquois  Indians,  59,  G6,  211. 

Italy,  21,  35,  75,  93,  97,  118,  119. 

Jacqueline,  102. 

Japan,  66,  G9,  77,  86,  108,  111,  116, 
176,  199. 

Jerusalem,  80. 

Jews,  28,  193,  194. 

Jones,  Paul,  231. 

Juliana,  Princess,  248. 

Kaatwyck,  7. 

Kabel-jauw,  101. 

Kentucky,  219. 

Kermiss,  116,  205. 

Kingdom  of  Nederland,  241-244. 
Korea,  124. 

Kuenen,  200,  246. 

Lace,  118. 

Leeuwarden,  44. 

Leicester,  171,  172. 

Lexington,  14,  105. 

Leyden,  14,  71,  108,  112,  113,  126, 
130,  162,  168,  171,  186,  197-206, 
230. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  111,  138,  180. 
Linen,  117,  120,  121. 

Lions,  9,  85,  216-217. 

Literature,  48,  245,  246. 

Lohengrin,  54. 

London,  193. 

Louis  of  Nassau,  156-158, 161. 

Low  Countries,  1,  103,  105,  206. 
Luther,  88. 

Luzac,  Jean,  230,  231. 

Maas  River,  7,  8,  12-18,  82,  84. 
Madison,  James,  237,  238. 

Magna  Charta,  82,  84,  105. 

Margaret  of  Savoy,  140,  146,  147, 151, 
155,  163. 

Mark,  64,  65. 

Martyrs,  160,  161. 

Maryland,  5. 

Massachusetts,  16, 41, 58, 96, 103, 195, 

MauricefmfnS,  180-184,  186-188, 
200,  206. 

Maximilian,  106,  107,  109. 

Medals,  71, 147, 170,  175. 
Medemblick,  49. 

Menno  Simons,  137. 

Mennonites,  137, 138. 


Merwede,  72, 73,  77. 

Michigan,  219,  242. 

Middelburg,  74,  83,  84,  100. 

Mints,  75,  76. 

Mohawk  River,  36,  48,  212. 
Monasteries,  69,  70,  124,  149. 

Money,  75,  105,  233. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  238. 

Mottoes,  9,  85, 161, 164, 170,  175, 191, 
216-219. 

Music,  205. 

Naarden,  164. 

Names,  21,  68,  119,  121, 154. 
Napoleon,  240. 

Nassau,  216. 

Nebraska,  242. 

Nederland,  1,  9,  68,  217. 

Netherlands,  1,  27,  103,  106,  206,217. 
New  England  origins,  46,  48,  56,  58, 
154,  226. 

New  Hampshire,  228. 

New  Jersey,  2,  212. 

New  Netherland,  76,  77,  96,  205,206, 
210-219 

New  York,  2,  21,  77,  96,  210,  238. 
Normans,  46,  58,  63. 

Norseman,  57-63. 

Nymegen,  25,  36,  53,  54,  236. 

Ohio,  4. 

Olden-Barneveldt.  See  Barveveldt. 
Orange,  House  of,  10,  140,  164,  221, 
223,  241. 

Orange  party,  221,  235-237. 

Orange,  Princes  of,  2,  140,  141,  216- 

220.  See  also  William  the  Silent. 
Orange,  white,  and  blue,  2,  163,  204, 

221. 

Oranje  boven,  164,  236. 

Oriental  Society,  225. 

Ostend,  176. 

Overyssel,  69,  230. 

Palestine.  See  Crusades. 

Patroon?,  75,  77,  213,  214. 

Penn,  William,  137,  215. 
Pennsylvania,  2,  93,  212,  215,  216. 
Philadelphia,  21,  93,  236. 

Philip  II.,  106,  141-145,  148,  169. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  10,  17,  18,  47,  56, 
62,  115,  117,  192. 

Plough,  113. 

Plymouth,  96,  207-209. 

Polders,  8,  94,  111. 

Popes,  32,  54,  79,  80,  82. 

Prince  Consort,  the,  247,  248. 
Printing,  123-125,  129,  133,  139,  180, 
216. 

Prussians,  236,  242,  244. 

Puritans,  62,  201,  205,  209. 


254 


INDEX. 


Rabbits,  6. 

Radbod,  49. 

Randolph,  John,  238. 

Ravens,  50,  00,  98. 

Red,  white,  and  blue,  1,  226,  243. 
Reformed  Church  in  America,  219. 
Revolutionary  war,  3,  226-234. 

Rhine  River,  7,  25,  29,  36,  37,  56. 
Robinson,  John,  196,  200,  204-207. 
Rodney,  Admiral,  233. 

Roman  Catholics,  44. 

Romans,  24,  32. 

Romayne,  227. 

Rotterdam,  19-31,  45,  82,  106,  131, 
133,  166, 167,  193,  215,  249. 
Rutgers  College,  219. 

Rembrandt,  224,  249. 

Russia,  229. 

Saint  Eustachius,  228,  232,  233. 

Saint  Nicholas,  51. 

Saracens,  53,  79,  85,  86,  88,  92. 
Saxons,  38-40,  50,  53. 

Scandinavians.  See  Norsemen. 
Scheldt  River,  2,  7,  56,  240,  242. 
Schenectady,  214,  217-220. 

Schiedam,  16,  85,  126,  168. 

Schools,  3,  53,  26-130,  168,  177. 

Scots,  42,  45,  46,  75,  104,  165,  192, 
199,  215,  229. 

Scott,  Sir  W.,  46. 

Schuyler,  Miss,  238. 

Scrooby,  13,  17,  195,  209. 

Secession,  3. 

Skating,  28. 

Slaves,  38,  66,  70,  88,  138,  216,  217. 
South  Carolina,  4,  238. 

Spaarndam,  19. 

Spain,  22,  109,  128, 134, 141,220,  232. 
Spaniards,  22,  23,  152,  153,  157,  158, 
165,  166,  205,  207,  220. 

Speedwell,  14,  207. 

Spices,  87,  89. 

Standish,  Miles,  11,  109,  209. 

State  rights,  3,  222. 

States  General,  105,  148,  167,  182, 
187-189,  207,  210,  231,  237. 
Stavoren,  49,  57. 

Sterling,  75. 

Street  names,  21. 

Sydney,  Sir  Philip,  173, 174. 

Taan,  Claas,  231. 

Tacitus,  25. 

Tauchelyn,  91. 

Tenth  Legion,  37. 

Texas,  5. 

Texel,  6,  74,  163,  231. 

Towns,  47,  64,  74,  90,  100. 

Trechts,  36,  73. 

Tromp,  222,  226. 


Trumbull,  J.,  230. 

Tulips,  110,  112. 

Turks,  58,  80. 

Uhlans,  244,  245. 

Union  of  Utrecht,  169, 170. 

Union  College,  219. 

Universities,  168,  199,  219. 

Usselincx,  177. 

Utrecht,  42,  57,  79, 107, 112, 144, 163, 
219. 

Van  Berckel,  232-236. 

Van  Curler,  211,  214. 

Van  der  Capellen,  230,  232,  235,  23& 
Van  der  Kemp,  236. 

Van  Rensselaer,  211. 

Van  Speyk,  242. 

Varus,  32,  33,  156. 

Venice,  13,  89. 

Vianen,  59,  152. 

Vikings,  13,  58. 

Vlaardingen,  14, 15. 

Voetians,  191. 

Von  Moltke,  57. 

Waal  River,  7,  53. 

Waldensians,  91. 

Wales,  199. 

Walloons,  200,  206,  212. 

Washington,  16,  216,  227,  231,  234, 
237. 

Waterloo,  241. 

Water  State,  13,  36,  94. 

West  India  Company,  17,  176,  177^ 
206. 

West  Indies,  4, 5,  228. 

Wiclif,  88. 

Wilbrord,  42,  43,  48. 

Wilhelmina,  Queen,  10,  218,  243, 247, 
248. 

William  the  Silent,  136, 141, 142, 144, 
147,  155,  160,  165,  167,  169,  170, 
199,  216-219,  244,  246. 

William  III.,  223. 

William  V.,  241,  242. 

Williams,  Roger,  209. 

Windmills,  92. 

Winfried,  43,  44. 

Wisconsin,  24,  242. 

Woden,  50,  51,  62. 

Wood  engraving,  124. 

Wool,  103,  104. 

Xanten,  35. 

Yssel  River,  14. 

Zeeland,  8,  9,  69. 

Zutphen, 174. 

Zuyder  Zee,  8,  97,  157, 166, 197. 


DATE  DUE 


iTSioiail^D 

(JU  Of 

i20?5 

Demco,  Inc.  38-293 


